Ok, So very often I overhear people chatting about selling their homes, and the first thing that they say is "Why Can't I Just Sell the House Myself". Honestly, "Why Pay a Realtor"? "What Do Realtors Really do Anyways? I can CERTAINLY do it better"?
Well, I certainly know the value of having a REALTOR like myself involved, but even for myself it is interesting to see the process in action.
Just about two years ago I happened to notice a "For Sale By Owner" sign in the front of a beautiful duplex on Main Street in Northboro, MA. Day after day for a few months I noticed the sign sit there. First it was an ordinary HomeDepot red and white sign, then it eventually shifted to various "do it yourself" website companies like I Sold My House.com. Each week it seemed the sign would change and that the sign reading "Price Reduction" would get more and more tattered and faded.
After doing a bit more research, I found that the duplex was truly overpriced, the pictures online were frankly horrible, and the market presence was practically non-existent! Ok, so I could have told you that without doing the research. But I would always think to myself "ok so do the owners really think that this is worth it?" Fine, they are saving the cost of the Realtor Commission; however, in a declining market, their already overpriced house has now sat for almost two years. Guess what, they are now most likely going to get even LESS than what they would have gotten two years ago if it had been positioned correctly on the market.
So, I shook my head and moved on with life until that next week, after OVER two years, a Realtor Sign appeared on the front lawn. That was Monday.
When I drove by on Wednesday, THREE days later, the Rider read "SOLD"!! It closed not soon after.
So, the moral of the story. In one of the toughest Real Estate markets in US history trained professionals that spend hundreds of dollars a month in advertising, who know every trick, every statistic, every law, who spend hours in classes each year on how to sell and price property, are having issues selling properties. How can someone without any of those resources or knowledge even begin without help?
The proof is in the pudding! Look at the House in Northboro . . . . What we do works!
