March 28, 2024
Annapolis, US 47 F

How to Avoid Agency Fees When Selling Your Home

Ready To Learn How To Keep Money In Your Pocket?

Selling a home is hard on your entire family emotionally and financially. Even if you’re downsizing, the looming thought over Agency Fees can be enough to deter anyone from hopping on the real estate market.

No one can promise that selling your home will ever be stress-free – but, there are plenty of ways to make the experience that much more enjoyable. Starting with learning how to properly deal with agencies and their sometimes unreasonable rates.

What Are Agency Fees?

First, let’s look into the logistics behind agency fees? What are they truly compromised of?

Typically, when you hire an agent or realtor, you’re looking at a cost of about 6% of your home’s total value. You’re paying both your agent and the buyer’s agent for their time and commitment to selling your home.

On average people spend more than $20,000 just on agency fees. However, this isn’t a fixed price and when you first hire your agent they give you a percentage rather than a sum.

How To Avoid Agency Fees

So the question is how can we avoid these agency fees or at least bring them down to the lowest cost possible?

Here are a few options that may work for you.

Private Sale

Why not ditch the agencies altogether? People opt for a private sale that’ll skip having to deal with both the agency of the buyer and seller.

However, there are downsides to going the private route – you won’t have the guidance of an experienced professional to guide you through the process.

You’ll have to set the listing price yourself – which involves a lot of research into the quality of your home and the neighborhood it resides in. You’ll also have to gain access to listing your home on platforms like MLS. Not to mention the complicated paperwork that comes at the end of it all.

There’s also the matter of selling below your target price. Although your saving on agency fees you have to prepare yourself for the very likely possibility you will be getting up to $100,000 less than if you hire an agency.

We know there are plenty of people reading who are questioning how they would go about carrying out a private sale –  how to sell your house isn’t something they teach you in school. Luckily, there are ways to utilize an agency and cut costs.

Explore Your Options

If you decide to hire a realtor through an agency make sure you take a look around and explore your options. Not every agency is going to have the same percentage rate.

You’ll find that some charge higher than the average 6% but others charge quite a bit less. However, those lower prices often come at the cost of cut services or lack of experience.

Going with the lower costs may benefit your wallet but could affect you in the long run if the agency isn’t fully prepped for all aspects of selling a home. This is, of course, one of the best options when it comes to cutting costs, but it’s important to get to know your agent and their background before accepting their offer.

There are also the options of skipping the agency but going with a company that will charge a flat fee in order to get your home listed on websites like MLS. Usually, these fees range from $1000 to $2000.

Getting your home listed on MLS is a big win for private sellers because of the exposure the listing will have to the agents of the buyers. This option works best for those who aren’t in need of an immediate sale and are willing to trade in time for money.

Negotiate

Like many things in life, agency costs are negotiable. If you find an agency you absolutely love who unfortunately charges a bit too much for your budget, make a deal.

A lot of agencies and realtors are looking to make sales despite a drop in pricing. However, again some may compromise with you and offer less assistance than if you were paying full price for their services.

Remember to not only negotiate the price of their commission – but the terms of the condition as well. Reading before you sign is always a great motto – especially when it comes to real estate.

If you’re feeling secure in your choices, it’s time to make the bold move and put that FOR SALE sign up in your yard. Whether you’re going the route of an agency or selling yourself, make sure never to cut corners. Mistakes in  real estate transactions will catch up with you in the end.

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