Options for Selling Your Home When Downsizing

A few weeks ago, I met a woman who was in the process of selling her mom’s home. She had chosen a slightly non-traditional real estate sale method and asked me how I felt about that. I told her I appreciate that there are different home sale methods available to meet the needs and goals of each situation and consumer. We have a free market in the US and the real estate market is not an exception to that economic system. 

Traditional Sale

This is the most common way people sell homes. In a traditional sale, you hire an agent to represent your financial interests and market your home to the public. There is no standard cost for working with a traditional, full-service agent. What each agent charges and what is included in that charge varies. Some common things that might be included in the commission for hiring a traditional, full-service agent are professional photos, open houses, paperwork and negotiation, staging consultation, internet marketing, and more. Sellers may also pay a commission on behalf of the buyer’s agent, but paying this commission is not mandatory and is part of the negotiation of the sale. 

Flat Fee MLS

If you are trying to save money during your sale, one option could be to consider using a flat fee MLS service. MLS stands for Multiple Listing Service. This is the website where most agents look for homes for sale for their buyers. If you want your home to receive exposure to the whole market of buyers in your area, getting your house on the MLS will be critical. You can hire a real estate company to just put your home on the MLS and then do the rest of the work of the sale yourself (taking photos, coordinating showings and fielding inquiries, reviewing offers, coordinating closing, etc). Some flat fee companies will offer those additional services à la carte and charge you separately for each service they provide on top of the basic MLS access.

More than likely your buyer will have a traditional, full-service agent representing them, so you may be asked to pay a buyer’s agent commission even in a flat fee MLS listing scenario.

Auction

Real estate auction companies can also list your home for sale. They might advertise your home for sale through a private website and a yard sign only or they might put it on the MLS to get it full market exposure. Just like any auction, there is usually a starting bid and the price increases from that starting bid once the auction gets rolling. The auction could take place fully online or could be an in-person auction. Fees charged by auction companies vary. There is usually a substantial fee/percentage charged to the buyer in most real estate auctions. 

FSBO

You can sell a home yourself For Sale by Owner or FSBO. Most people choose to sell this way because they’d like to retain more control of the process and are interested in saving some money on commissions. There are many ways to market as a For Sale by Owner. In fact, we have a whole blog about this topic, so I’ll direct you there to learn more about this strategy.

Real Estate Attorney

You might already have a person identified who would like to buy your house. You will want to make sure the transfer of ownership of your property is done legally, so you would consider hiring a real estate attorney in this instance. Most real estate attorneys will charge either an hourly rate or a flat fee to assist with a real estate sale. You can find an attorney who specializes in real estate law through the Lawyer Referral Service (LRS) website.

This blog has not covered the pros and cons to each service option above, so make sure to fully explore and compare all the options before making a decision. For example, sometimes when you try to use an option that saves money, you end up costing yourself more time and money than expected in the long run. You’re welcome to reach out to Jess Lex Homes anytime for more information.