If you find yourself tiring of scheduling appointments, qualifying buyers, arranging open houses, and spending inordinate amounts of time and money on selling your house, please remember we’re here to help.  

Hidden Pitfalls
Since it’s our business to know everything there is to know about real estate, we’re familiar with the frustrations many home owners encounter when they sell on their own. It is with this in mind that we pass along some observations about selling your house without a Coldwell Banker Sales Associate: 

Potential buyers will also be looking to save on the commission that you will avoid by selling your property on your own. At best, you should be thinking in terms of saving only half of the commission. 

You will have substantial out-of-pocket costs on your own that listed properties do not occur, such as advertising. 

You may undervalue your house and lose thousands of dollars in net proceeds. 

You may find yourself uncomfortable with the burden of allowing strangers into your home. 

Unless you are a seasoned negotiator, you may give away more at the bargaining table than you would have paid in commissions with an experienced Coldwell Banker Sales Associate. 

You can enjoy significant savings through discounts with our Coldwell Banker Conceirge program. 

We Can Help
After considering these drawbacks, you may decide to enlist the help of a licensed real estate professional. Rest assured that you’ll get all the help you deserve by putting a Coldwell Banker Sales Associate to work for you. We aggressively follow through on our goal of selling your house by utilizing a Marketing Plan that we uniquely customize for each seller and property. This plan includes: 

• Working with you to develop a calendar of marketing activities to attract prospective buyers to your property. 

• Proposing a method that will assist you in enhancing your home and help to make it more distinctive than other houses on the market. 

• Reviewing a Competitive Market Analysis to help you select a price for your property. 

• Listing your property on Coldwellbanker.com where potential buyers from around the world can view it from the comfort of their, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, until it’s sold. 

As your local Coldwell Banker Sales Associate, I take pride in knowing all the properties for sale in this neighborhood. Keeping in mind you r desire to sell on your own, I’d still appreciate the opportunity to preview your home. Please call at your earliest convenience so that we can arrange an appointment. 

According to data from the 2003 National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers, the majority of homeowners who choose the FSBO method may be short changing themselves by thousands pf dollars in profit on the sale of their home. Specifically, the NAR study shows that homes sold with assistance of a real estate agent were valued a full $30,000 higher than those sold directly by the homeowner – meaning sellers who used an agent received 21 percent more for their than those who used the (FSBO) For Sale By Owner method. 

In Massachusetts, homeowners have demonstrated an even greater propensity to use a real estate agent/broker to assist them with the sale of their home. In the first quarter of 2003, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) found that 87.5% of home owners used the services of a real estate agent at some point during the transaction, while fewer than one in 10(9.7%) Bay State home sellers actually sold their home on their own. Furthermore, among those Massachusetts home owners who first attempted to sell their home on their own, 1 in 4 ultimately turned to an agent to help complete the property transaction. 

• 83.3 % Sold it using an Agent/Broker.
• 8.3% Sold it without ever using a Real Estate Agent/Broker.
• 4.2% Other
• 2.8% First tried to sell it myself, but then used an Agent.
• 1.4% First listed with an Agent, but then sold it myself. 

Across the US, the NAR study shows that the marketing methods of choice for For Sale by Owners sellers are substantially different than the resources home buyers often cite as their primary sources for home search information. Most notably, the Internet was identified by nearly two-thirds of buyers as a primary source for home information, yet only 20% of sellers using the For Sale By owner approach marketed their home on the Internet in the spring of 2003. Additionally, newspaper ads currently rank as the second most popular marketing tool employed by For Sale By Owner sellers, but fewer than half of all buyers stated that newspaper ads were one of their primary sources of information during the home search process. 

• 72% Yard Signs
• 61% Newspaper Ads
• 41% Open Houses
• 27% Friends/Neighbors
• 20% Internet
• 8% For Sale By Owner Magazine
• 6% Other
• 2% Direct Mail 

Although attracting potential buyers is not frequently cited by For Sale By Owners sellers as one of the more difficult tasks they face, data form the National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers suggests otherwise. In fact, the NAR survey shows that the majority of home buyers (86%) used real estate agents as their primary source of information during the home search process. However, For Sale By Owners listings do not appear on the industry’s property listing services, thus they are not marketed as widely to buyers as those home listed by licensed real estate agents and brokers through the Realtor Multiple Listing Service. 

Primary Sources of Home Search Information for Buyers
• 86% Buyers
• 69% Yard Signs
• 65% Internet
• 49% Newspapers
• 48% Open Houses
• 35% Home Guides 

In order to get the highest price for your home, it’s essential to price the home competitively. A real estate professional’s knowledge of the local housing market, including comparable sales and market trends, are invaluable in pricing a home properly. Not surprisingly, it is a real estate agent’s ability to price a home competitively and sell it within the seller’s time frame that is most desired by Massachusetts home owners. 

Services Massachusetts Homesellers Sought Most From Their Agent: 

• 30.8% help me price it competitively
• 29.2% help me to sell the house within my time frame
• 23.1% help me find a buyer for my home
• 6.2% help me with negotiation and dealing with buyer
• 4.6% help with paperwork/inspections/preparing for settlement
• 3.1% help me see homes available for me to purchase
• 3.1% tell me how to fix up my home to help sell it for me 

In addition to determining the market value of a home, developing a marketing strategy to sell the home, and completing the necessary paperwork can be intimidating tasks for homeowners. Furthermore, the strain on sellers is often exacerbated by the fact that they are likely to be searching for their next residence. The most difficult tasks for For Sale By Owners sellers, according to the 2003 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, included setting the right price, understanding the paperwork, and preparing the home for sale. 

Most Difficult Task For “For Sale By Owners” Sellers
• 30% Understanding and performing paperwork
• 26% Preparing/fixing up home for sale
• 19% Getting the price right
• 14% Having enough time to devote to all aspects of the sale
• 7% Attracting potential buyers
• 4% Selling within the time planned
• 1% Helping buyer obtain financing 

Increasingly, home sellers are turning to real estate professionals to help them sell their homes. Over the past dozen years (1991-2003), the use of real estate agents has strengthened, with a measurable increase in the use of agents most evident during the past five years.  

Use of Real Estate Agent in Homeselling Process(US)
• 1991 77%
• 1993 82%
• 1995 81%
• 1997 80%
• 1999 77%
• 2001 79%
• 2003 83% 

Don't price your home by yourself! It's my job to analyze the Brookline, Newton and Boston market and determine the true value of your property. It's FREE and without obligation...