If you have an idea of what your home is worth, maybe because several agents have given you their research and opinion or you have looked at other recent sales on sites like Zillow or Homes.com or maybe you had an appraisal performed, think about spending $20 dollars at the local hardware store and placing a For Sale by Owner sign in the yard. You will likely get a lot of agents calling but that’s ok, let them know that you are trying this route first for a few weeks. Maybe even place your home for sale on Zillow. If you get interested parties, it is their obligation to present you with a written contract. They can hire their own attorney or agent (but an attorney is probably going to be cheaper).You don’t want to pay someone to write up a contract that the buyer ultimately won’t sign. Once you receive an offer, then you can hire a real estate attorney to review it and walk you through the process. It most likely will cost you several thousands of dollars but not the tens of thousands with the traditional full commission model.

If agents are telling you that you need to be in the local Multiple Listing Service, there are many firms who will for a modest fee in the hundreds of dollars put your home on that site. Just Google FLAT FEE LISTINGS. With the recent changes due to the NAR settlement, Sellers do not need to offer to pay the buyer’s agent. If buyers need help with that cost, they can ask the Seller to give them a credit and the Seller can adjust the price accordingly. The Buyer in essence will finance the cost of the agent and it may make them more sensitive to how much the service is really worth.

Percentages sound much smaller than the dollars that they represent

You no longer have to agree, UP FRONT, to pay for the BUYERS AGENT. Why would you? The buyers, in their offer, can ask you for that and you can adjust the price accordingly. Take any portion that would go to an agent for a buyer, out of the equation. 

Agents may know buyers or  know agents with other buyers who are looking for your type of home. It may hit the market and sell within a week, requiring very little time and virtually no marketing. Agents may not like it but why should you pay a windfall for a few hours of work?

Ask what the average number of days on the market is at the time you are looking to sell. If its 60 to 90 days (or less) I would hesitate in giving much longer than that, especially if they are looking for a year contract. Ask questions to find out what the marketing plan is, in detail, and the costs advanced in anticipation of that. You could offer to pay some of the hard costs out of pocket in exchange for a reduction in the commission.

Think long and hard about these policies if you are a Seller because it could mean that your home won’t be exposed to all of the potential buyers in the market and so you might not get the best price. These policies can help the agent and the agent’s company make more money. With In House Commission differences, if the agent that you hire and the agent for the buyer are from the same company, those agents make more money than if an agent from another company brings the buyer. With an Exclusive Listing, your home is exposed only to agents from the company that you hire to sell your home. In either of these cases, you may not get the best offer since the home isn’t exposed to the whole market. The agents from the company you hire may not make your home readily available to agents from other companies, and you might not even realize this. Insist upon your home being available for all agents from 

all companies.

 Paying commissions in general is problematic. The agent becomes your partner in a sense. For example, when the income of the agent depends on whether or not the sale actually closes, how can you be certain that the advice you get is truly in your best interest and not because the agent wants a paycheck?  We strongly advocate that clients choose an hourly rate model. Largely you can buy the services that you need on the open market for a fraction of the price of most commissions and probably have representation more suited to your needs.