Should You Use a Discount Real Estate Broker?

Are you thinking about selling your house? Have you heard about discount real estate brokers and are you thinking about going with one of them instead of the traditional real estate broker to save money? If you answered yes, then you should think about a few things before you hire anyone to help you sell your house.

First, how much do you really know about selling a house? Have you ever sold one in the past? Do you even know what a real estate broker is supposed to do for you?

Here is a briefing of what a traditional real estate broker could do for you.

1. They can help you decide on a fair asking price for your home. Why can they do this? They are well informed about price trends, your neighborhood conditions, taxes, insurances and all the zoning issues. (If you want to get an idea of what you home is worth check out coldwellbanker.com. They have a handy online value estimator tool.)

2. When selling your home, they will advertise your home and then take potential buyers on tours of your home. As they tour your home, they will point out selling points of your home, (for instance that extra big closet in the master bedroom.). He/she will also point out selling points such as the low crime rate in the area in which your home resides (if the rate is low) the proximity to local schools or shopping centers (if it is true).

3. The agent will make sure your home has all the required inspections done.

4. If necessary, the agent will host open houses at your home and handle all the details.

5. The agent will be the one who will handle all aspects of negotiations and when it comes to the signing he/she will make sure all the t’s and i’s are dotted and crossed.

Most traditional real estate brokers are paid about 5 to 7 percent of the sales price.

Since a traditional real estate broker does all of that work, why would anyone use a discount broker? Mainly discount brokers are used because they are less expensive.

Discount brokers are usually paid about 1 percent of the sales price of the home or a base price for services rendered as agreed upon by the seller and the broker.

What kinds of services do discount brokers offer a seller depends on what the seller hires the broker to do. You can hire them to handle all the home’s inspections for you or to host an open house for you. Then you are left with the rest of the work to do.

If you have the time and ability to handle most of the sell of your house on your own, then a discount broker may be the answer for you. But be sure you know exactly what services they are going to charge you for before any services are performed. Some discount brokers have been known to even charging for a fee per phone call.

But if you really don’t want all the hassle of selling your house, you should stick to using a traditional real estate broker.