Paying 6%? You're also paying up to $595 extra at closing.

Most high commission companies charge an administrative fee as high as $595 at closing. THIS is ABOVE and beyond the 5%, 6% or 7% commission one pays with these companies. Of all the large real estate companies, Homeowners Concept is the only one that invoices a low $95 administrative fee (actually the fee is charged by the Title company - anything charged over that goes to the broker).  

It is a travesty that so many sellers blindly pay these fees on top of an excessive commission. These sellers either do not know any better or they are in a frame of mind of paying over $12,500 for the average priced home that they figure what's a few hundred more. Bottom line: a few hundred dollars on top of the thousands ONE SAVES by using Homeowners Concept adds up to a substantial amount of money. And even if one wants to be a big spender why not take the savings and make a big donation to your favorite charity. YOU WILL feel good rather than spending it on unnecessary commissions and excessive administrative fees. 

PAYING A HIGHER COMMISSION WAS A COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY.

This property at 1813 N. 56th in Washington Heights was listed with Homeowners Concept until 9/30/08 when it expired at $249,900. Our very successful agent tried repeatedly to get seller to pay attention to the declining market, to no avail (yes, despite our 25 yr expertise in the market, some sellers have a tough time coming to grips with the current market). After a couple of months off market she listed with a First Weber agent who had sold only one other property in the last 12 months, MLS #1057682 (there are some sellers that for some reason believe that another less successful, less seasoned broker will do a better job...?). Seller proceeded to do a number of price reductions all the way down to $214,900 by late September, 2009.

At that price, a Homeowners Concept Realtor who was working with a buyer showed the property and got an Accepted Offer for $208,000. Eventually Homeowners Concept sold the property and seller paid a much higher commission to us via the "co-broke" of 2.4% (this actually came out of the listing broker's 6% commission). That is about $1,872 more the seller had to pay to us plus an additional $7,488 to the listing broker for a total of $9,360 more than our 1.5% commission.

The irony of this very real transaction is that by backing away from Homeowners Concept's overwhelming and successful record of 25 years, this seller found out that the market controls the price the home sells for. The seller only has control of how much commission one pays. Had the seller stayed with Homeowners Concept this seller would have walked away with $9,360 more at closing. Buyer would have paid the same amount for the home regardless!

Which seller are you?

Getting your home sold in SE-WI right now, is not as tough as you might think despite the market. The key is understanding a few things about yourself and how you approach the market that determines if and how quickly you sell.

What Home Buyers Want

Right now, there are roughly half the number of buyers in the market as we would normally see. As a general rule, they are conservative and concerned due to the state of the economy and tough lending requirements. They are looking for value. Ultimately, they are going to buy the home that is the best value on the day they make their purchase decision… Wouldn’t you if you were buying today?

Understanding The Housing Competition

Knowing that buyers are looking for value, another key factor if you want to sell a home is knowing who your true competition really is. For you to determine “good value,” you have to know what to compare with. This takes working with a real estate agent that understands the market better than the others. Choosing your initial market position is perhaps the most important factor when deciding to put your home on the market.

Your Motivation To Sell A Home.

So you know what buyers want and you understand your competition and how to value your home, the next and final step is to understand your current situation. Are you motivated enough to sell your home? Here’s a simple test:

Pick which of the below choices best describes you. Think seriously before you decide, as this will help you greatly.

1. The Casual Seller - The casual seller says things like “We are not in a hurry,” or “We don’t want to give it away.” You can expect this person to say “We will sell if we can get $X ….”
2. The Serious Seller - The serious seller says things like “I understand the market and I’m willing to sell my home for what I’m seeing out there.” This seller is ready to sell at “perceived market value” and they expect to price their home with the competition to get it sold.
3. The Very Serious Seller - The very serious seller must sell now. They are willing to create a perception of value and entice buyers to select their home before all others.

Who will sell their home in the next few months?

So, what kind of a seller are you?

If you answered the above question as honestly as you could, you need to know that the casual seller is not going to sell their home in today’s market. There are just way too many homes for sale and the casual sellers are doing themselves and the very serious sellers a dis-service by adding to the inventory.

The market will eventually recover and there will again be great times to sell, but today’s buyer pool is looking for value. Even the serious seller is most likely not going to sell their home. With over 11 months of supply in SE-WI plus new short sales and foreclosures entering the market, only the very serious sellers have the best chance of being successful over the next 12 months. Luckily with our very low commission of 1.5% a seller listing with Homeowners Concept has quite a few thousands of dollars in savings to play with. A serious seller can take the savings and deduct it from the list price making their home much more attractive to buyers.