If you need (or just want) to sell your house or investment property in Raleigh – Durham without using a real estate agent, you’ve come to the right place.
While we do cooperate with brokers/agents, sometimes it’s best to avoid paying someone to be the middle man.
After all, paying 5-6% of the sale of a property in commissions is quite a lot of money. In some situations, NC brokers and real estate agents can be very useful and they earn every penny of their commission. But, that’s not always the case.
Here are a few ways to avoid paying high commissions in your NC sale.
First, there’s a tricky custom that you have got to be aware of.
In most sales in Raleigh – Durham, roughly half of the commission you pay as the seller goes to pay for the buyer’s broker.
Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, right?
Why should you pay for the agent on the other side of the table?
Truthfully, it defies all logic – But… it’s just what’s always been done.
You can use that to your advantage in a few ways.
First, factor in the commissions paid when you’re looking at the comparable sales. If the properties similar to yours sold for prices that included commissions, take that into account.
Don’t underprice your property – be aware that a savvy buyer may expect to take a discount too. If you’re doing the work of one agent, you can expect to save that money.
Sometimes in Raleigh – Durham buyers who aren’t represented by an agent won’t remember to negotiate the buyer’s side commission out of the price for themselves, so don’t remind them if you don’t want to pay them. Just don’t be surprised if it comes up during the negotiation.
You may want to consider offering 2.5% to buyer’s agents who will bring their clients to show your property. Sure, it’s a lot of money. If you’re pricing your property including that commission, you can always negotiate a better deal for a purchaser who comes without an agent.
On the other hand, if you don’t leave room for the buyer’s agent’s commission, you’ll be excluding most of the buyers in the market in Raleigh – Durham. Because truthfully, what agent is going to show their buyers your property if there is not incentive.
Over 90% of transactions happen through the MLS – that’s the Multiple Listing Service. This is the main database that all the brokers and agents in Raleigh – Durham use to access information for their clients on the houses, land, condos. and investment properties for sale. It also includes data on the sold prices.
Once upon a time, you had to pay a full commission to get your property on the MLS. Now in Raleigh – Durham, there are a few brokers who will charge you a fee just to list your property on the MLS. Often, you spend a few hundred bucks and you only pay commission if the sale closes.
When comparing it to the cost of a newspaper ad, the MLS is a cheap way to market your property to a much larger pool of potential buyers.
All the major real estate search sites like Realtor.com, Trulia, Yahoo Homes, Zillow, etc. get data from the MLS. Chances are good that when you submit your listing in Raleigh – Durham to the MLS, information on your property will end up on most of the major sites within a few days.
Each of those sites sells ads. They’ve got packages that let you pay to enhance your listing, feature it at the top of the search, and a lot of other bells and whistles that might or might not get an interested buyer to buy your property.
Advertising is a gamble. Sometimes open houses in Raleigh – Durham NC can be a great way to sell property, and sometimes they’re a waste of time. Same with newspaper ads, craigslist postings, fancy signs – sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t.
To effectively “sell my house without an agent” (on your own), you need to become an expert marketer.
Putting up fliers and signs around your neighborhood can generate a few calls, and there’s a lot of free websites where you can post information. But often just putting up flyers and an open house isn’t enough, especiall if your house doesn’t appeal to the average home buyer.
In theory, real estate agents charge big commissions because they have to spend a lot of money up front to advertise your property. By advertising lots of properties at once, they expect to get more phone calls – and obviously, they’ll make good profits by selling lots of houses.
Certain properties might require thousands of dollars in advertising expenses before the right buyer happens to see the ad and call.
However, if you want to avoid paying any commissions, you can also sell your house for cash to a local investor.. like us!
We pay fair prices for properties – and we can close fast (in as little as 2-7 days if you need to).
Sometimes we’ll purchase Raleigh – Durham houses, fix them up, then rent them out… sometimes we’ll fix them up and sell them to other people looking for great homes in the area, and a lot of other reasons, too – but we love to hear from people like you who are thinking of selling anywhere in NC.
We’re investors who care a lot about the Raleigh – Durham area.
We close fast and pay cash, meaning we can close in as little as just 2-7 days. Give us a call now at (919) 747-3662 Ext. 803 or fill out the short form over here.
Hello! 48hr house buyer,
It’s a great question how can I sell my house fast without an agent? I think we are now clear to understand after reading your article. Thanks for share with us. I Hope homeowner choose cash buyer like you to sell their house easily without an agent.