Sell Your House For Full Asking Price Without an Agent

The key differences between listing your property on the market with an agent, which I've been a licensed Realtor most of my adult life, is listing on the MLS will often bring you what appears to be "top dollar" but you have fees like commissions, repairs, buyer paid closing costs, seller closing costs, HOA fees, etc to deduct still.

So let's say you've listed your home for $350,000 with an agent, me for example.

Well, initially we'll meet to discuss the commission rate that I'll charge at the time of a successful closing. In addition, a buyer's agent will still be more than likely compensated by you as well once they procure a buyer and they close. This is negotiable but for the sake of math, let's call it 5.5% of the sales price.

Next we get an offer from a buyer, but they don't have enough for both the down payment and the closing costs, so they're going to ask you for 3-5% of the sales price, as an example. Let's say its' 4% in this scenario.

In addition, you're located in an HOA and they don't want to pay the transfer fee, the capital improvement fund fee, the disclosure fee nor the prepaid association fees, because remember they're short on down payment as it is. So that is around $1200.

They also ask you to buy them a home warranty for $450 at time of closing.

But during negotiations, they managed to knock down your price from $350,000 to say $335,000.

And we're not done with inspections or the appraisal yet, 2 more very large variables in the equation.

So inspections are done and they're asking for most items to be repaired. Let's say it costs you $5000 in repairs.

And the appraisal has come in but it only appraised for $330,000, not $335,000, so now you're adjusting down an additional $5000.

During all this time, it's been 60 days, so you've also made 2 more mortgage payments, which let's call those $2000/mo, so that's $4000.

Here's what this breakdown looks like:

$330,000 Final sales price

• - $18,150 Real estate commissions

• - $13,200 Buyer's paid closing costs

• - $4,000 Seller's paid closing costs

• - $450 Home Warranty

• - $1,200 HOA fees

• - $5,000 Repairs from inspections

• - $4,000 2 months of mortgage payments

• $284,000 Net final sales price

The other point to remember in this scenario is IF the buyer made it across the finish line. Because if they didn't then you've racked up days on market, paid for mortgage payments and now you're back to locating a new buyer. You'll need to disclose everything that buyer found, including the fact that the appraisal price was $330,000, not $350,000, so now we're looking at starting at $330,000 all over again with a new buyer and more months of mortgage payments. Assuming the new buyer now wants it at $315,000, you'd end up at a new net final sales price of only $266,425.

So now, it's been 4 extra months and you thought you were getting $350,000 when this all started but in reality, you walked away with only $266,425.

Now what if my offer would have been $275,000.

Close in 15 or 30 days (allowing you enough time to get moved)

No repairs, no appraisal, no closing costs and no commissions - I paid for everything.....

Which deal seems better?

This is why often times the number you hear isn't always the number you get. And sometimes the easier path in real estate, which is taking the cash and walking away, is the BEST SCENARIO for you.

In addition to this option we'd also discuss loan assumption, which often times leads to more money in your pocket. Obviously each scenario is different depending on payoff, delinquency of loan payments, condition of property, etc.

So this is why it's best we discuss all your options first and up front, so you can walk into this knowing exactly how you want to walk out on the other side.