The cost of using a real estate agent can be quite contentious. If you are selling your house, it’s natural for you to wish to cut costs whenever possible, and you will be on the hunt for an agent who charges reasonable rates. Yet the term reasonable can mean different things to different people, and is fairly subjective. To benefit from the professional services that a real estate agent has to offer, a seller can expect to pay, but what can you expect?
It’s helpful to compare real estate agent fees and qualifications before you choose the right individual to work with as you sell your home. Both vendors and landlords can turn to the comparison tool at LocalAgentFinder to see their options and gauge the range of fees that are typically charged by real estate agents. Register now to find out what agents in your area are charging, and find the right fit.
Maximising your Returns
As you look at these various real estate agent costs, it’s important to remember the idea of a false economy. This means that if your real estate agent is going to undersell your property to the tune of $20,000, even paying a relatively low fee of $3,000 is not worth the savings. In this case, it would have been more advantageous to pay $10,000 for higher quality service that resulted in your property selling at its higher rightful selling price.
The problem with this is that you won’t know what the eventual selling price of your property is going to be as you go into negotiations with potential real estate agents. To combat this common dilemma, you must look at factors beyond simple real estate agent costs. Look at other factors such as the strategy they plan to use in marketing your property. You can look at the years of experience they have under their belts, and references from other sellers.
Feel free to ask questions about their experience and qualifications to get a feel for the quality of service you will be paying for. You can also compare preliminary qualifications online using the online dashboard at LocalAgentFinder, which allows you to carefully compare agent proposals.
Two Components of Real Estate Agent Costs
When it comes to real estate agent costs, you can usually break these down into two main pieces. These include:
- Professional agent fees retained by the agent
- Disbursements that must be paid such as
To get a better idea of what exactly you’re paying for, it’s a good idea to separate these costs to aid transparency. You will be better able to assess each part of the service by keeping these two fees separated in your cost comparison. It’s reasonable to assume that if you are paying a real estate agent a cost of $10,000 that includes the disbursement fees; that half of this will go to advertising and marketing, for example. By keeping the fees separate, you can see if this is the case. Demanding that 90% of this $10,000 go to advertising is not fair for the real estate agent. Remember that for the agent to do a professional job, they must be given proper incentive and motivation.
To find an agent who will work hard to sell your property at its maximum price, you will want to look at these costs carefully. You will want to strike the balance between finding an agent with costs you are comfortable paying, and who has the experience and skill necessary to maximise your result.
A good place to get started is the free, no-obligation online dashboard at LocalAgentFinder. Sellers and landlords have been using this service since 2007 to compare and select real estate agents to best suit their needs. Find out how it works and find an agent who will fit within your budget.
The following article can also be useful as you begin your search: