According to the NAR, a REALTOR can help you get more money out of selling your property — even after commissions.  Doubters will of course point out that these numbers were put together by an organization with a vested interest in the outcome.   Even so critics and economists who doubt these figures concede that REALTORS provide valuable services to their clients and will never be completely replaced by such things as websites that allow sellers to list their FSBO (“For Sale By Owner”) homes for a flat fee.  A new study from Stanford spells it out:

Sellers potentially benefit from [real estate] brokers’ services in a variety of ways. First, brokers provide promotional services. They help prepare a house for sales, circulate flyers, place advertisements, hold open houses, and recommend the house to individual buyers. Second, they often assist with negotiations. Third, they screen prospective buyers, facilitating and potentially accelerating the process of matching buyers and sellers. Fourth, they provide access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which lists all homes available for sale. Fifth, they provide market information and recommendations pertaining to the appropriate asking price. Sixth, they often assist with paperwork and legal documentation.

It’s a short version of the list, but it gets the point across.

Of course, the same report comes to a couple of interesting conclusions:  They did not find the same improved pricing that NAR and other research has reported, but they did find that  “[sellers] who use brokers sell their houses more quickly.”

That’s an important finding!   We are currently in a national real estate market where sales are at the lowest level since 1999, prices are declining over time, and we have an average of 10.3 months supply of housing on the market right now.  Locally, inventory has declined to a mere 21.22 months. Add to that the fact that foreclosures are up 57% since last year and 8% since December — including over 45,000 actual bank repossessions! — and it is clear that a lot more homes are coming on the market, either as short-sales or as REO (bank owned) property.  Even if Congress manages to pass Senator Dodd’s HOLC proposal, a lot of people will need to get out of homes they simply can’t afford.

Do you have 21 months to sell your home?  No!  Of course you don’t!

And are you prepared for the fact that if your home sells 6 or 10 months from now, you may very well get less for it than if you were to get a buyer 30 to 60 days from now?

Yes, selling a home more quickly is a big deal, even if you don’t have to relocate quickly.  In a declining market, time on market is money lost on market.

To get my free publication on how a REALTOR can help you titled “50 Things a Licensed Real Estate Agent Does”, or to get help finding or listing property, be sure to call me or click the “Contact Me!” link to the side.

Looking forward to seeing some of you at the Desert Shores Dojo this Friday night!