When a licensed agent is full-time and they are out in the market every single day selling homes’, you can imagine the experience they get in the market. They will literally witness prices rise or drop from one day to the next.
Someone who is not full time may underprice or overprice a home because they do not realize how much the market might have changed in just 30 days time.
Let me give you a little story of a “for sale by owner” who was in this exact situation and did not want to pay any realtors for their expertise in Colorado Springs.
The seller slapped a sign in the yard and put an ad in the paper advertising his home for $175,000. A passerby saw the sign in the yard and called out of curiosity to ask for the price.
When they heard $175,000 they thought maybe there was a mistake. The home was probably worth about $230,000. They decided to make an offer immediately with the owner.
It went under contract.
About halfway through the transaction, the seller got to talking to someone who helped him realize his mistake and he tried to back out of the contract.
The buyer took him to court and the court forced the contract to completion. Ironically, the seller lost an amazing amount of money trying to save from paying a realtor any commissions.
Any decent realtor worth their weight would have helped the seller make another $38,000 after paying 2 realtors and closing costs. This is just one example I have seen where someone has been burned trying to avoid the realtor.
I know that there are many people across the country who successfully complete real estate transactions without realtors. However, it’s like asking someone who went to Las Vegas for vacation if they made any money. When they do make money, they are happy to tell you about it. But you never hear the sad, embarrassing stories of being taken to the cleaners. That would make them look stupid.
Personally, I think it is gutsy to attempt such a huge transaction without a professional realtor, but the ones that get burned…I think about how stupid their decisions were and have just asked myself: “What were they thinking”?
