How Do I Sell My House Without a Realtor

How Do I Sell My House Without a Realtor in Phoenix, AZ?

We can help if you want to sell your house or investment property in Phoenix without a real estate agent.

Although we cooperate with brokers, sometimes it’s best to avoid paying someone to be in the middle. After all, paying 5-6% of the sale of a property in a commission is a lot of money (if you sell your house for $200,000 then a 6% commission would be $12,000!) In certain situations, AZ brokers and real estate agents can be beneficial and earn their commission. Not always.

How To Avoid Paying High Commissions in Your AZ Sale.

First, there’s a tricky custom that you have to know about.

In most sales in Phoenix, roughly half of the commission you pay as the seller goes to pay for the buyer’s broker.

It doesn’t make much sense.

Why should you pay for the agent on the other side of the table?

Truthfully, it defies logic – it’s just what’s typically done.

You can use that to your advantage in a few ways.

First, factor in the commissions paid when you’re looking at comparable sales. For example, if properties like yours sold for prices that included commissions, consider that.

Don’t underprice your property – be aware that a savvy buyer may also expect to take a discount. If you’re doing the work of one agent, you can expect to save that money.

Sometimes in Phoenix, buyers who an agent doesn’t represent 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. However, if you’re pricing your property, including that commission, you can 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 Phoenix market.

Over 90% of transactions happen through the MLS – that’s the Multiple Listing Service. It’s the central database that all the brokers in Phoenix use to access information for their clients on the houses, condos, land, and investment properties for sale, along with 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 Phoenix, a few brokers will charge you a fee to list your property on the MLS like Graana. Often, you spend a few hundred bucks, and you only pay a commission if the sale closes.

Compared to the cost of a newspaper ad, the MLS is a cheap way to market your property to a very wide audience.

All the major real estate search sites, like Realtor.com, Zillow, Yahoo Homes, etc., get data from the MLS. So the chances are good that when you submit your listing in Phoenix 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. But in addition, they’ve got packages that let you pay to enhance your listing, feature it at the top of the search, and many 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 Phoenix, AZ, can be a great way to sell property; sometimes, they’re a waste of time. It is the same with newspaper ads, craigslist postings, and fancy signs – sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t.

To Effectively Sell Your House Without a Realtor, You Have To Market It Well.

Putting up fliers and signs around your neighborhood can generate some calls, and there are a lot of free websites where you can post information. Here is a good example. But often, just putting up flyers and an open house isn’t enough 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 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.

Specific properties might require thousands of dollars in advertising expenses before the right buyer sees the ad and calls.

List of Steps To Sell Your House Without a Realtor

1. Determine the price: Some online estimators are free to get a price for your home. However, they might not be so accurate in competitively pricing your home. The best online calculator is Zestimates by Zillow. Another good hack is to take advantage of local realtors' free consultations. You can often use the consultation as grounds to ask them what they think your house is worth. Pair this with other free online home price estimators; you have an excellent round-a-bout figure!
2. Prepare your home for showing: In this step, you need to make your house presentable. Clean all the surfaces, repaint stained walls, steam the carpets, and repair issues such as leaky faucets. If you are wondering if your house is beyond repair and if you can sell it check out this post
3. Use a photographer or DIY: It is no secret that good pictures result in interested buyers, in fact, 44% of people buying houses are doing so online, and 87% of these buyers have found great pictures to be a factor (National Association of Realtors)
4. List your House: You generally need a realtor's license to list your house on an MLS. However, you can sometimes list your house for a flat fee. Other listing websites let you list for free "For Sale By Owner". But MLS gets the most visitors and puts your listing in front of thousands of people.
5. Make "For Sale Signs": Purchase "For Sale" signs or make your own and set them around the neighborhoods and major streets to guide potential buyers to your house.
6. Get Help: Just because you are not using a realtor does not mean you will be doing the whole process by yourself. Hiring a broker for services like negotiating with buyers, taking offers, or preparing the contract; will be cheaper than agent fees.
7. Respond to Inquires: Get ready to negotiate! It is important to remember during a negotiation to find a standard solution. Sometimes you can negotiate a slightly lower price versus an expensive and time-consuming repair!
8. Closing: This may be the most challenging step. The closing paperwork usually requires a real estate attorney or transaction agent. If you are dead set on doing it, familiarize yourself with the current state laws.

If you want to work with a real estate investor, we can help. We offer fair prices for properties and can close fast in as little as 3-5 days if needed. You can get an offer within 24 hours of your appointment. We would love to help you explore this option if you are open to it! Feel free to contact us when you are ready for a no-pressure call.