Avoid Paying Realtor Fees – As great as having a Realtor on your side to help you sell your home, the reality is that in today’s housing marking, many homeowners cannot afford to pay the high cost of Realtor commissions, which average between 3-6% of the total sale. To sell a $200,000 home in Canada, Realtor fees are, on average, around $12,000, meaning that the take-home value is $188,000 before any additional closing costs or repairs. This is a lot of money, especially for those without any equity, so let’s talk about ways to avoid these fees or escape them altogether partially.
Negotiate the price down.
This isn’t always easy to do, but in a tight market where Realtors are climbing over each other to get business, you might be able to negotiate from 6% to 4-5%, giving you the additional room you need for the sale to make sense. Granted, a well-connected high, volume Realtor won’t need to make this deal, so you’ll have to look outside the big players and find someone hungry for work.
Work with a friend
If you have a friend with a Realtor’s license, perhaps you can convince them to help you out for free or a small fee. Getting a Realtor’s commission is a reasonably straightforward process, and someone in your circle of friends may be either a Realtor or knows someone with a license. Though most licensed Realtors won’t want to work for free, even a small commission of a few thousand dollars could save you many times that amount. Alternatively, consider trading favors…there are many options here.
For Sale By Owner (FSBO)
Selling a home on your own is challenging work; you don’t get to use the MLS, and you have to pay for all of your advertising out of pocket. However, considering the previous commission of $12,000 on a $200,000 home, you are still far ahead of the game, even if you spent half of that on advertising. There are dozens of FSBO websites where you can list your home, many of which are free – use those to your advantage. Also, use sites like Craigslist to help spread the word. With a bit of patience, FSBO can pay off.
Avoid Paying Realtor Fees
If you want to know how much you must net from the sale of your home so that you can buy a new one, then use our free mortgage calculator & mortgage quotes section to snag five free quotes from local mortgage lenders. Our free mortgage calculator will let you play with the numbers to see how much you can pay with varying deposits and interest rates; it’s a very friendly and easy-to-use tool, and getting five free mortgage quotes will give you a detailed estimate on where you stand with the banks. There’s absolutely no risk, and it’s 100% free to try.
