Most people don’t want to attempt the sale of their own property without professional help. That’s smart. There are so many things that can go wrong, so many landmines on that path; and these are BIG things that can cost a lot. Still, when the alternative of paying, say . . . $15,000 or more in sales commissions is considered, some elect to brave it on their own. And sometimes they’re even successful. Most of them, however, say they’d never do that again!
The problem with Do-It-Yourself is the definition of ‘it.’ What is it you are going to do yourself? The whole thing? Pricing? Preparation? Marketing? Screening? Showing? Open houses? Contracts? Arranging financing? Handling details? Solving problems?
Frankly, I don’t like that definition of ‘It.’ It’s too big.
But, what if we defined ‘It‘ as simply being those things any capable homeowner could do for him or herself? What if we pull out all of the technical aspects of selling a home, all of the tasks that take specific knowledge and experience, and shortened our list of ‘It‘ to:
- Showing the home (I know: 50+ years of REALTOR-speak has conditioned us all to believe we can’t do this well, but, come on: who knows your property better than you?)
- Holding open houses
Now, that’s an ‘It‘ I can live with! Especially if it means ‘It‘ can save me big bucks!
And, guess what: it can.
You see, one of the many things Don Taylor, the founder of Help-U-Sell, questioned about the Ordinary real estate business way back in 1976, was the role of real estate agents in the typical office and the expense associated with having them. Instead of a real estate office with 50 or 100 agents stumbling around doing half a dozen deals a year each (which, by the way, is a true picture of what an Ordinary real estate office is: that’s normal for them), he wanted a handful of agents, focused on a specific job description, doing four or more times the average production of agents elsewhere. To realize this vision, he looked at the list of things agents have to do in a real estate sale – which is similar to our big list of of ‘It‘ above – and tried to pare it down.
He recognized that most agents spend huge amounts of time opening doors for people and sitting in open houses. Overheard at a REALTOR meeting:
What did you do last Saturday?
What a day! I had to show one of my listings in the morning – someone called and wanted to see it. I drove 30 minutes to get there, waited another 30 minutes . . . and they didn’t show up. So, that was my morning. Then I had an open house in the afternoon, which meant I needed to start an hour early putting out signs and making sure the house was ready to show . And then it rained all afternoon, remember? Hard! I sat there for four hours with my lemonade and cookies and didn’t see another living person.
Gee, why didn’t you just close up shop and go home?
Believe me, I wanted to, but I promised the seller two open houses and this was the day they chose, so I was stuck.
Don decided that a typical homeowner – carefully prepped by a sharp agent – could easily show his or her own house and, with a little more preparation, hold an open house. That would save a lot of time in a typical agent’s career – and saving time saves money. Whose money, you ask? In Don Taylor’s mind, it saved the homeowner money. After all it was the homeowner taking over these simple tasks that steal agents’ time. With a seller participating in this fashion he would need fewer agents and could charge less.
There’s more to how Help-U-Sell brokers are able to charge less and still make more than their Ordinary counterparts. There is a ton of difference in how Help-U-Sell offices approach the business – marketing, lead capture, incubation, transaction processing – but for now, we’ll stay focused on this one aspect: Seller Participation.
Think about it for a moment. You’re a home seller. It’s a beautiful Thursday afternoon. You’re home, working in the yard. The house is neat and clean . . . what the heck! Why not put out the Open House sign and a few directionals.
Meanwhile, Ms. P, always looking for her dream home, takes a new route from the grocery store and finds your open house. After a bit of friendly chatting, you get her name and contact information (your agent prepped you well), and take her through the house, which she loves. She wants more detail and might want to make an offer. You hand her your broker’s card and tell her he will be in touch. You wave goodbye.
You call your broker, who calls Ms. P, has her come to the office to answer her questions and have her pre-qualified for a mortgage. Then he brings her back to the house for a more in-depth tour. That evening, he comes back with her offer and earnest money check.
You found the buyer yourself. There was no outside broker or agent involved. When the sale closes, you’re only going to have to pay your Help-U-Sell Low Set Fee. It is a successful sale – and you saved thousands of dollars in commissions!
That’s a Do It Yourself I can live with!
Why? The obvious answer is that we all discovered, somewhere in the late ’90s, that buyers were important to our business. Today the broker wants those calls. He wants to show the property so that he has an opportunity to build rapport with the buyer prospect and perhaps get an appointment for a full Buyer Consultation. In addition, the phrase ‘For Sale with Owner’ implied a limited service or discount offering and Help-U-Sell practitioners are adamant: we are not discounters!