Selling a house without an agent can be a daunting prospect for homeowners, but it is becoming more common as the real estate market evolves. While an agent can provide valuable support and expertise, selling a house without an agent can save you thousands of dollars in commissions. If you’re looking to sell your house without an agent in Massachusetts, it’s essential to understand the process and the legal requirements. In this article, we will explore the steps involved in selling your house without an agent in Massachusetts and provide tips to help you successfully navigate the process.
How Do I Sell My House Without An Agent in Massachusetts?
Selling a property in Massachusetts can be expensive, especially if you’re paying high commissions. However, there are ways to avoid these costs and save some money.
Firstly, you should be aware of the customary practice in Massachusetts where roughly half of the commission you pay as a seller goes to the buyer’s broker. Although this might seem illogical, it’s what’s typically done. You can use this to your advantage by factoring in the commissions paid when looking at comparable sales. If properties similar to yours sold for prices that included commissions, take that into account.
It’s important not to underprice your property, though. A savvy buyer may expect to take a discount too. If you’re doing the work of one agent, you can expect to save that money. Sometimes buyers who aren’t represented by an agent won’t remember to negotiate the buyer’s side commission out of the price for themselves, so don’t remind them if you don’t want to pay it. Just don’t be surprised if it comes up during the negotiation.
Consider offering 2.5% to buyer’s agents who will bring their clients to show your property. This might seem like a lot of money, but if you’re pricing your property including that commission, you can always negotiate a better deal for a purchaser who comes without an agent. On the other hand, if you don’t leave room for the buyer’s agent’s commission, you’ll be excluding most of the buyers in the market in Massachusetts.
It’s important to note that over 90% of transactions happen through the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) in Massachusetts. It’s the main database that all brokers in Massachusetts use to access information for their clients on the properties for sale, along with data on the sold prices. Once upon a time, you had to pay a full commission to get your property on the MLS. Now in Massachusetts, there are a few brokers who will charge you a fee just to list your property on the MLS. Often, you spend a few hundred bucks and you only pay a commission if the sale closes.
Compared to the cost of a newspaper ad, the MLS is a cheap way to market your property to a very wide audience. All the major real estate search sites like Realtor.com, Zillow, Yahoo Homes, etc. get data from the MLS. Chances are good that when you submit your listing in Massachusetts to the MLS, information on your property will end up on most of the major sites within a few days.
However, keep in mind that advertising is a gamble. Sometimes open houses in Massachusetts can be a great way to sell a property, and sometimes they’re a waste of time. The same goes for newspaper ads, Craigslist postings, fancy signs, and other marketing strategies. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t. Therefore, it’s best to weigh the costs and benefits of each strategy before deciding on the best way to sell your property.
To effectively sell your property on your own, you have to market it well.
Putting up fliers and signs around your neighborhood can generate some calls, and there’s a lot of free websites where you can post information. But often just putting up flyers and an open house isn’t enough if your house doesn’t appeal to the average home buyer.
In theory, real estate agents charge big commissions because they have to spend a lot of money up front to advertise your property. By advertising lots of properties at once, they expect to get more phone calls – and obviously, they’ll make good profits by selling lots of houses.
Certain properties might require thousands of dollars in advertising expenses before the right buyer happens to see the ad and call.
If you want to avoid paying any commissions, you can also sell your house to investors like us for CASH
We fair prices for properties – and we can close fast (in as little as 3-5 days if you need to).
Sometimes we’ll purchase Massachusetts houses, fix them up, then rent them out… sometimes we’ll fix them up and sell them to other people looking for great homes in the area, and a lot of other reasons, too – but we love to hear from people like you who are thinking of selling anywhere in Massachusetts.
We’re investors who care a lot about Massachusetts.
We close fast and pay cash in as little as just 3-5 days. Give us a call now at 508-850-0339 or fill out the short form over here.