Feb 19, 2009
Do Home Sellers Need Agents?
According to the National Association of Realtors’® own research, home sellers may be better off selling on their own than with an agent. In a survey published last year, the median sales price of sellers’ homes who sold ‘for sale by owner‘ was 1% higher than those sold by real estate agents and took 3 weeks less time to sell. Add to that the 5-6% savings enjoyed by FSBO sellers and you’ve got quite an incentive to try it on your own.
It’s unusual that the trade organization for real estate agents would publish data contrary to the interests of its membership, however, NAR’s spin is that for sale by owner sellers are pricing their houses too low and that’s why they’re selling faster and for more money. IMO – another example of the under estimation of the consumer’s intelligence by Realtors®, that’s only serving to hasten the end of traditional real estate brokerage.
