This should be your goal: To sell your home for the best possible terms, in the shortest possible time, with the least possible disruption to your normal routine.

Accept the fact that the success of your sale effort will be determined by four factors:

1. Location: This is something you can't change but you should realize that your home or business might be worth considerably more or less if it were at a different location, even close by.
   
   
2. Condition: A home that is neat, clean, uncluttered and has no obvious need for paint or repair, will sell faster and for considerably more money than an identical home that is dirty, messy, cluttered and in need of paint or repair.
   
   
3. Price: Your home will sell when the people in the market at the time you are selling perceive the value of your home to be equal to, or greater than, similarly priced homes that are on the market at the same time. This is an absolute rule. The market, and ONLY the market, will determine what your home will sell for.
   
   
4. The Marketing Plan: This is the one factor your agent will have the most control over. Simply stated, it consists of the steps to be taken to inform any buyer that is in the market that your home is available, what features it has, and to persuade them into feeling that it would be in their best interest to tour your home.
   
   

1. A national/international franchised office will probably have more Relocation connections and more "outside the area" internet traffic on their website, which means more calls from people moving to the area. A large office will have more agents that will tour your place and who will be acutely aware of the home you have for sale. Brainerd Realty Inc. has eighteen active agents and Century 21 is the most recognized real estate icon in the world.
   
   
2. A Real Estate agent understands the market. Trust your agent and listen to what he/she has to say. When your home is shown, your agent will get feedback and that feedback is the Market talking. If it suggests adjustments are needed, you should make them.
   
   
3. An agent will help you make the right decisions. When a Purchase agreement comes in, there are many things that require careful consideration. This is often an emotional time and you should trust your agent to keep you firmly in touch with reality.
   
   
4. Choose someone that will say what he will do, do what he says, will do it right and in a timely manner. Choose me as your REALTOR and I will develop a written plan with you, and sign a written pledge that authorizes you to fire me-no questions asked-if I don't do what I promised.
   
   

1. "For sale by owner" often means a lower selling price and more time on the market.
   
   Everyone likes to save money and there IS a lot of money to be saved if you don't have to pay someone else to sell your home. But remember buyers like to save money too and they will expect to pay wholesale instead of retail price if you are selling your home yourself. And do not forget to consider that selling your home is a very complex process that must pass muster in today's litigious society and the stakes are very high if something goes wrong. Consider that a significant percentage of the buyers do not feel comfortable dealing with you directly and therefore, won't. People shopping the Internet will not know about your home and it is highly unlikely buyers transferring into the area will either. The greater the number of qualified buyers that get eliminated, the lower the probable sale price becomes AND the longer the probable time needed to sell will be.
   
   It will also be very difficult for you to get the information needed to make the proper judgement on what your starting list price should be. On top of that, without an agent, you will get no feedback. People are just too polite to tell you that your price is too high relative to the competition, or that they perceive an odor problem or something else bothers them.
   
   The majority of Sellers accept the free market rates established for services rendered, and hire a Realtor. There is no rule that the majority is always right but you should carefully consider what the free market is saying before you decide to accept the hassle and risk of selling your home yourself.
   
   
2. About commissions:
   
   By law, the listing agent and the Seller negotiate the commission rate for each sale, so the going market rates are indeed, collectively, what all the players in the market believe the compensation should be for services rendered. Remember "Buyers Agent compensation" is part of the data for each property entered in the MLS database. A buyers agent SHOULDN'T be influenced by the amount of compensation offered, BUT, I believe you should consider this point if you are going to try to negotiate a lower than average commission rate.
   
   
3. Unscrupulous practices in a listing competition:
   
   Unfortunately, it is not too rare to find a REALTOR that has learned that in a listing competition, he (or she) will almost certainly get the listing if he tells the Seller that his property can be sold for considerably more money than the Competitors say it is worth. This shady character knows that he would be presenting the property to the SAME potential buyers as the competing REALTORS and that those buyers will be comparing the seller's property to the SAME competing properties in the market. The unscrupulous agent also knows that if the Seller's property is overpriced compared to the similar properties offered for sale, the property will not sell until the price is reduced to where the market feels it should be. And in addition, it probably will sell for less and take longer than it would have if it had been priced right to begin with. Our greedy friend follows this path because he knows that when the property sells, HE will get the commission because HE got the listing instead of the honest REALTOR that told the truth. The moral of the story is to be very suspicious of the REALTOR that claims to be able to sell the same property for much more money. Remember that the Seller doesn't decide what his property is worth and neither does his REALTOR. The MARKET will ALWAYS determine the sale price.
   
   
4. Cut-rate Brokers:
   
   We all love bargains, but doesn't it sound unreasonable to assume that it's possible to hire someone to sell your property for the BEST possible price, and that he (or she) would volunteer to be paid at the LOWEST part of a payscale that is established by the free market? I would suspect that the REALTOR was either not very smart, lacking in negotiating skills, or indeed, was not offering a full line of service.
   
   Remember, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.