the Cost of Seller's Real Estate Agents

This represents the 4% real estate fee for the sale of a house for $425,000. The real estate agreement set forth that the broker would receive 4% of whatever the house sold for, therefore this fee was determined by the selling price and was not a set fee. The broker went through the house and told us various things we could do to make the house appear more appealing. He also valued the house and helped us to set a price based on his knowledge of the current market. This fee included photographing, advertising, and showing the house to prospective buyers. It also including hosting open houses as deemed necessary to get the house sold. In addition, the broker served as a negotiator between seller and buyer in terms of settling on a price. We had set the price a bit higher, the buyer offered us a lower amount. The broker advised us on what our counter-offer should be, which turned out to be the agreed-upon amount. This was an exclusive listing for the first month, and then it would go over to multiple listing. If another broker sold the house, the fee would have been 5% and it would have been split equally between the selling broker and the listing broker. Once we went to contract, but before closing, the broker continued to show the house.

What can I say that is bad? We are in a terrible real estate market right now, yet our broker had a few prospects lined up before the house was even ready to be shown. We sold it in under 15 minutes to a potential buyer that our broker had been entertaining with stories about how perfect this house would be as we were getting the house ready for showing. He agreed to take this gentleman in to see the house before anyone saw it, which he did the night before it was to be advertised. The man fell in love with it and we had a binder within minutes. One complaint is that the broker put a large "sold" sign on the property which triggered a whole bunch of questions from nosy neighbors. In addition, this is an estate sale, so the house is empty. We felt the sign would attract possible vandals so we had to ask the broker to remove it. It took him several days, but he eventually did. They use these signs to advertise themselves.

Find out which broker is selling the most houses in your area. This man was recommended to us by a family member who works for him, so we knew this was someone with a good reputation. You have the option to set a percentage rate when you negotiate your contract. Obviously the more money the broker gets, the more interested he or she is going to be in getting your house sold. Know your market. You do not want to under- or over-price, especially in this competitive market. Your broker is going to pick apart a lot of things in your house and try to get you to do as much as possible to get the value up. That does not mean you have to do everything they say. Our broker had suggested putting some money into fixing up the bathroom, but we decided against it due to time and money contraints. As it turned out, we made a good decision.