What You Need To Know About Selling Your Home: Finding an Agent

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It's time to sell your place, and you've visited a few open houses to see what the market's like. It's confusing. Now it's time to select a professional to help you along the way.

Most people go with referrals. So-and-so has a friend? it's an important relationship, and you may feel most comfortable with someone with whom you share a culture or background. And without touching on the delicate subjects of discrimination or steering, it's possible that having an agent who will bring potential buyers from the same cultural milieu will not only speed the process but understand the need for multi-generational living or kitchens with built-in woks. Or the grey-water system for the garden and chicken coops. And although the terms have become interchangeable, "agent/realtor" and "broker" are two different things: "realtor" is a person licensed to sell real estate and represent both buyers and sellers, while a "broker" has more experience and training, a more expensive license and the legal responsibility for the transactions- you have to be a broker to own a real estate agency. And a "Realtor?" is a simply a realtor who belongs to the National Association of Realtors. And since real estate transactions involve a lot of paperwork, find out who does that- what kind of team and support system is there to make your transaction as smooth as possible?

Probate and Trust Sales:

If the property is being sold on behalf of an estate in probate- a dead person's house as opposed to a grand country place- talk to agents who specialize in those types of sales, especially of you are an out-of-town heir. Most of the large brokerages have an agent who's carved out a career in probate sales, which require special disclosures, bidding, and Probate Court confirmation. Trust sales, on the other hand, where the property has passed into a trust set up by the deceased, proceed like a regular sale and doesn't require court confirmation. Since the owner's dead, some of the items in the disclosure form may be unenforceable in a probate sale, but there is still the requirement to disclose if a recent death had occurred on the property. Additionally, trust sales can be marketed and staged like any other property, which is slightly more difficult with probate sales if the expenses require court confirmation.

Presentation:

How will your property get marketed? Don't disclose the amount you're looking for. Let the realtors do their dog-and-pony show- and tell you what they think your property should sell for- before making a choice. They're going to expect a commitment for ninety days, after which you can decide to change agencies or renew the listing.

Fees:

How much are they going to charge you? Typically the fee is still 6%, sometimes 5%, of the sale price, and conventionally, this percentage gets split 50/50 if two brokerages are involved. If you agent is at the top of his/her food chain at their brokerage, they may get as much as 2%, but the sorry fact is that most beginner agents will wind up with 1%. When broken down this way, you can see that while the professionals involved have a fiduciary duty to get you the highest price, their livelihood depends on the volume of sales they produce. Which means that if your price expectations are unrealistic, your property may not get the attention it needs. It's currently a buyer's market, and sadly, what you paid for a property or how much you owe on it is irrelevant to the market. Additionally, the higher the commission, the more room the agents themselves have to work together. If the amount separating a seller and serious buyer is less than 1%, the agents will usually take a smaller cut to make the sale happen.

Pricing:

Not for the faint of heart, many agents are advising their clients to price their property at the bottom of their limit. The lower the price, the bigger your potential draw of qualified buyers and the potential for multiple bids. You always have the right to turn offers down, especially if this is your pricing strategy. But be prepared to get your house ready for sale, which will involve much clearing of surfaces, probably paint, killing a few termites and manicuring the shrubberies to get the highest price.

Which brings us to staging?which we'll be breaking down in part three of the selling portion of Curbed University.
? All Curbed University coverage [Curbed SF]

Source: http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2012/03/27/what_you_need_to_know_about_selling_your_home_finding_an_agent.php

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