Selling Your Own Home in 6 Easy Steps

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There is a six-step process to selling your home without an agent and saving on the commission cost. There are no gimmicks or shortcuts to this process—you’ll just have to do the work that an agent normally does in order to succeed.

I have developed a 20-page system that outlines this process in full which you can obtain for free by simply giving me a call or sending me an email. In the meantime, here are the six steps you need to know:

1. Understand the market conditions. What do supply and demand look like in your current market?

2. Calculate the bottom line. You need to calculate your net gain after all the fees you’ll have to pay in selling your own property.

3. Prepare your home for selling. How do you need to show and stage your home to get it ready for the market?

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If you follow these steps, you can absolutely sell your home without an agent.

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4. Understand how to market your home. You need to know how to expose your home and make sure everyone knows about it once it’s listed.

5. Negotiate the contract. Know what kind of contingencies and deadlines are involved in your contract.

6. Closing and moving.

If you follow these steps, you can absolutely sell your home without an agent. Once again, if you’d like to receive the full 20-page document on how to sell your home without an agent or you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you!

5 Reasons to Sell This Holiday Season

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Over the last few years, I’ve sold most of my personal properties during December, November, and January. There’s a reason why. Actually, there are five reasons why that I’d like to share with you today:

5. Relocation buyers. Most employees that are transferring into the D.C. area start on January 1st, so they are in the area now looking for homes to purchase. Listing now means your home will be seen by this large group of buyers.

4. People are more emotional during the holiday season. People are simply in a better mood during this time of year. When buyers get emotional, they are usually more generous with their offers.

3. Tax buyers. There is another fairly large group of buyers that need to purchase a property by the end of the year for tax reasons.

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There aren’t many tire-kickers in this market.

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2. Historically, there is less inventory. With fewer homes on the market during these months, you’ll have much less competition than you would if you waited until spring to list.

1. Serious buyers. If someone is out there looking for homes and knocking on your door in the cold, sleet, or snow, you can bet that they aren’t a tire-kicker. Buyers who are in this market during this time of year typically have one thing in common: they’re serious.

If you have any questions for me about selling your home or about real estate in general, give me a call or send me an email today. I look forward to hearing from you.

What Do Agents Actually Earn From Their Commission?

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A lot of people come to me asking how people make so much money with real estate. But, before you get too excited and get a real estate license yourself, you need to consider the truth about what agents really earn.
 
Let’s consider a house listed at $500,000 with a commission rate of 6%. In this case, that 6% adds up to $30,000. This may sound like a lot, but what if you start breaking it down?

Keep in mind that 99% of the transactions will have two real estate agents. One agent will represent the buyer, while one is going to represent the seller. This means that the 6% we mentioned earlier is going to be split in half.

But it doesn’t stop there. Agents often work on a team, so the $15,000 you thought was left is actually going to be split again. Let’s be generous and assume this split is going to be 50/50 again, and that the agent will be left with $7,500. What happens from there?

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The next time you see a big total and think that’s what an agent is actually earning, think again.

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Well, to have an active real estate license, you’ve got to associate yourself with a brokerage. This means that you’ll need to pay fees.

The broker fee can be 30% or even 40%. If you take that fee out of the $7,500 we mentioned earlier, that leaves just about $4,000.

That isn’t all. Then you pay other annual fees, your multiple listing services dues, and a few other costs as well, leaving a grand total of about $3,000.

Ultimately, agents may tend to end up with just 10% of the commission. So, the next time you see a total like $30,000, $40,000, or even $50,000 and think that’s the number an agent is actually earning, think again.

If you have any other questions, would like more information, or want advice on how you can be successful as a real estate agent, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.