HAVEN Realtors

 If you are going “For Sale By Owner”, there is a good chance you don’t want to list your home because you don’t want to pay a 5%-6% commission to a broker. Of course, there is always a small percentage of the homeowners who do everything themselves. And, truth be told, some of them actually do it successfully. But what about the others?

“And why would I want to pay to have my house on the MLS if I already have it on a bunch of websites?” – I hear this question all the time. There are 2 answers to it:  a short one and a long one.

First, the short answer. Imagine that one day you decide to go fishing. You know for sure you’re not going to be the only one fishing today and there are only 20 fishes available for catch. Where, do you think, you would have better chances to catch one of those 20 fishes: when fishing in a pond or in the Lake Michigan? That’s exactly the difference between having your home on several websites visited by thousands of people who look for homes everywhere in the nation and having it on the brokers’ MLS visited by hundreds of agents working with buyers who look for homes exactly in your area!

Now, the long answer. About 80% of the homebuyers nowadays begin their search on the Internet – this is true. But it is also true that about 80% of these buyers end up using services of an agent when purchasing their homes. Why? Because it is always better to be represented and they usually don’t pay for their agent’s services: the commission comes out of the seller’s proceeds at closing.

Do the agents know your home is for sale? No, they don’t. They don’t go on the websites to check the listings, they use the Internet-based MLS because a) the MLS provides them with the most recent information about available properties and b) the MLS listings guarantee their compensation.

Do you get calls from agents? I bet you get plenty of calls. Do many agents say they have a buyer who always wanted to buy only your home? Of course they do – this is how they set a foot into your house to pitch you that 6% full-service listing. I did it during my first year in real estate! Quite successfully, I should add.

The fact is, very few agents who do indeed have a potential buyer for your home would call you. Because, as I said before, if your home is not MLS-listed, it does not exist for them. You may be even offering them not 3% but 6% commission, so what? Who will know and how they will be sure about it? They have dozens of other properties to choose from. This market presents us all with constantly growing inventory of homes and constantly decreasing number of homebuyers – you do the math.

If you are a homeseller who offers a commission to a buyer’s agent, you MUST have your property listed on the MLS so the agents know you are selling and you are offering them compensation.