Deciding to sell your home on your own or with a real estate associate might be an easy decision for you to make, but do you know how to avoid getting in your own way to make sure your sale goes smoothly and you walk away happy? Here's somethings to keep in mind when you are ready to sell.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND CONTRACT LANGUAGE? If you are detail-oriented and have an understanding of legal documents, you might be just fine listing your home, advertising, scheduling walk-throughs, answering phone calls and text messages, and receiving/reviewing offers. In Michigan, there are certain documents required with every sale, regardless if a real estate agent is involved. Do you know what they are? Or where to find them? You could also use a real estate attorney, but they won't be able to advise you on pricing, market trends, negotiations, loan types, and how others in the business write their offers and what to look for. There are 38 line items on the West Michigan Regional Purchase Agreement and each can shift the offer and your net amount in various ways. If you are confident in reading line-by-line, you should be fine! If you find yourself worried about the details, I'm happy to help you navigate through the offers.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE CURRENT MARKET? So your neighbor's house sold 3 doors down for $400,000. Does that mean your house will also sell for $400,000? Not necessarily, but if you are planning to sell without an agent, there's some questions you will want to consider.
1) Does the current market dictate a starting price over, under or at market value?
2) Will I get the same traffic by putting it on social media and holding an open house?
3) Do I add, take off, or make no adjustments for agent commissions?
4) Do I understand the tri-fecta of location, condition and price and how each one individual affects the other?
5) Have I looked at the last 6 months of sales in my area and compared it to my own home to determine where an appraisal range would most likely fall?
If you understand and can easily answer these, you should be fine! If you find yourself worried that you aren't reading the market right, I'm happy to help you navigate through past sales.
DO YOU KNOW THE CURRENT TRENDS FOR WHAT BUYERS ARE LOOKING FOR? Many times in recent real estate transactions I hear people say 'this is the Wild West!' 'There's no rhyme or reason for why one house sells and another sits.' Maybe not on paper, but for agents who are in and out of houses regularly, and can compare homes because they have first-hand knowledge of the home, there are many things that underly why seemingly a home with the same features and price will go while the other stays. The things buyers look for seem to ebb and flow. In one season, they will all want a turn-key property. Another, they are looking for good bones that they can still put their own touch on. Yet another season, they may be more concerned about space for a garden or if the roof and windows are new. If you've been touring local open houses in order to get first hand knowledge of nearby properties before you sell, you should be fine! But if you worry there may be something you aren't aware of in your neighborhood (like radon treatment vs. none; untested PFAS or Nitrogen in the well; the townships 5 year plan to put a multiplex in your backyard), then I'm happy to help you make sure you know how you stack up to neighborhood sales.
DO YOU HAVE THE EXTRA TIME AND THE OBJECTIVE VIEWPOINT TO SELL YOUR HOME? Sellers see how quickly homes are flying off the market and it may be easy to think - oh this will be quick! And it might! If you've taken the time to repair obvious issues, fix up your yard for curb appeal, made sure your title is clear, de-clutter and deep clean your home, stage your home to be as appealing to as many people as popular, advertise it appropriately, price is appropriately, be available to answer the phone at any point day or night, be available to show the home anytime (but also not linger to make the buyers uncomfortable), be able to understand the contract and respond quickly to any offer, are prepared to negotiate at the initial offer, inspections and appraisal, are prepared to put the home back on the market if the deal falls through, have a back-up marketing plan, are ready to host an open house and track all buyers that walk through in order to follow up on feedback and potentially change things based on feedback... Again, if you feel confident in all the above and have time to take on your home as if it was a second job, objectively, setting all nostalgia and personal feelings aside, you should be fine! But if this sounds a little over-whelming now that you think about how your neighbor got 52 offers and it took their agent 5 hours just to print them, sort them, put them in a spreadsheet for easier presentation, noting all the small differences and creating net sheets so they would know exactly what they'd walk away with and were agreeing to in each offer, then I'd be happy to take that on for you and leave you with just heading out to enjoy the day for each showing on your home.
It has been and will continue to be done by many sellers. Some had good experiences. Some have been sued for not disclosing things properly. Some realize they were taken advantage of after not pricing their home correctly. Some are still homeless after thinking they'd find another home quickly since their's sold so fast, not realizing they were joining the fray of buyers and needed to have a plan for their seamless transition. I don't judge or assume anything negative when I see people trying to sell their home on their own to save a few bucks, but you should know, statistically, selling without an agent leaves a lot of money on the table that would have paid for the assistance and still added more to your pocket. (2023 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers).
The only time I recommend attempting a sale without an agent is when you already have a buyer in mind. Even so, it would be a great idea to hire a real estate associate to take care of the paperwork for a transaction coordination fee to make sure title, disclosures and the contract itself is done correctly. Good luck out there!