Despite the rising interest rates, Louisville remains a hot seller’s market because the demand for homes continues to outpace the supply. As a result, homes are selling quickly and for more money than ever before.
This is why I created my series, “Get the Most for Your House Even in a Hot Seller’s Market” – to help you and anyone you know maximize the profits from your biggest investment and not get “caught up in what other people are doing.”
This is the last post in the series. The purpose of this article is to discuss whether you should sell your home the traditional way (On the Market) or if Off-Market is a better choice for you.
Off-market means either putting a For Sale By Owner sign in your yard or working with an agent but not listing your home on the MLS (the agent works with private clients and other agents to market your home).
You’ve probably heard stories about these options. Here’s mine:
Many years ago, we put our home on the market without a real estate agent. That’s right — FSBO!
It sold in a day, but looking back, we lost at least $50,000 doing the transaction ourselves.
For example, we didn’t know how to run market comparisons when pricing our home, we didn’t know how to accept or review multiple offers, and we sure didn’t know how to tell the Buyers NO when it came to their request for pricey radon mitigation.
These are all things I know how to do as a licensed real estate agent — and we should have hired an agent then to manage the process instead of trying to do it alone.
In today’s hot market, there are even more stories like this that I could share with you, and you’ve probably heard a few doozies from friends and family too.
Getting a home sold and sold quickly is not hard, especially in this market.
Anyone can sell a home. But the goal of selling a home should almost never be just to get it sold or sold quickly. That’s easy to do; put a sign in the yard, offer a low price, and wait for someone to take advantage of the situation.
The goal of selling a home in today’s market should be to take advantage of the best sellers’ market in history AND to do it with as little hassle as possible. Both goals are possible!
Instead, what’s happening right now is that many sellers are thinking that because the market is so hot, that they can skip steps or sell off-market. Sometimes selling off-market is a great idea, but sometimes selling off-market leaves thousands of dollars on the table, like I experienced.
There are pros and cons to selling off-market and there are right ways and wrong ways to do it.
Is selling a home off-market a good idea? Sometimes.
For some sellers, the thought of hordes of people coming through their home in a weekend feels overwhelming and something they don’t want to deal with, especially while the pandemic lingers. This is especially true for people who are immunocompromised or those who have sick or elderly family members. But there are plenty of homeowners who simply don’t like the thought of that many people looking at their personal space.
Others don’t want to deal with agents (i.e. pay commission) or think that selling directly to a friend or family member is a better option. These concerns might be true in some instances, but other times there are unintended consequences.
When Selling Off-Market Is The Right Choice.
One of the appeals of selling off-market can come from wanting fewer people in your home or perhaps the desire to sell in a more private way. Maybe you don’t want your home all over the internet or your neighbors to know you are selling. Maybe, like I was, you’re divorcing and don’t want to drag your children through another confusing part of the process. All of these can be very good reasons to sell off-market.
Selling off-market also makes a lot of sense during the holidays. This is agents often use with great success.
Why? Because typically, the number of buyers goes down from mid-November through mid-January, as people are focused on the holidays, school breaks, and/or traveling. There are less homes on the market, too, for the same reasons.
But what if you need or want to sell during an “off-time,” like in December because of a sudden job transfer, for example? Selling off-market during the winter months can be a great option, especially if it means being able to “test” the market without risking it being listed on the MLS and not selling, which can cause problems later.
If you want to sell off-market for one of these or other reasons, I can help you, and we have strategies within my brokerage to make this a viable alternative. Whether you go on the market or not, the goal should be to get you the highest possible profit for your home. When we work together to sell your home off-market, I can tap into all the off-market resources I have available and help you still get the most money possible.
These are some good reasons to sell off-market, but this option is not for everyone.
When Putting Your Home On The Market is the Better Choice.
If getting the highest price possible is your goal, even if it means being slightly inconvenienced for a short period of time, then putting your home on the market is truly the best option.
Selling your home more traditionally means giving it the greatest exposure. The more eyeballs we get on your home, the more offers you’ll possibly get – and that means ability to sell it to the buyer who offers the best contract for you (price + terms).
The real estate market operates like any other: the more demand, the lower the supply, the higher the value. And that’s what’s happening right now. Demand is greater than supply, so homes are selling for more than ever before.
Another benefit to putting your home on the market is that you can have back-up buyers waiting in the wings if anything were to go wrong with the buyer under contract (which does happen).
Typically, homes that sell on the market have better terms too, which can mean faster closings and fewer (or no) contingencies. In other words, you could end up with an all-cash offer and/or an offer with no contingencies at all, which in today’s market often means no appraisal and no home inspection.
That’s what greater exposure means for you – getting the best possible price and the best possible contract terms so you can create the exact situation you want (more time to move if needed, a quick closing if needed, less risk of the contact falling through, etc.). You want the best offer to make it to the closing table, and when you have more offers, you have better terms, period. We are seeing all sorts of creative things happening between buyers and sellers right now, and most of the time, it’s the direct result of putting the property on the market and getting it in front of the most buyers possible.
What’s Right for You?
For some sellers, getting the most money for their home isn’t the most important part of selling; sometimes privacy, ease, or simplicity hold more value. Getting a price that is acceptable is enough.
For others, getting the most money possible from their biggest investment is the goal. For those sellers, selling off-market could mean leaving tens of thousands or even more on the table.
Putting your home on the market means exposing it to the most homebuyers as possible. The more buyers who see your home, the more demand created, which gives you the best chance to sell for the highest price and most attractive terms.
Wondering what’s best for you? There is no one-size-fits-all answer. Your decision might not be the same for you as your neighbor’s. It really depends on your personal goals and your current situation.
Let’s talk and figure out what the best options is for YOU and your family. My job is to help you make the best decision based on your goals. Whether you sell your home off -market or on-market, I can help you. Either way, my goal is to make sure it’s a good experience for you and as easy as possible. Whatever is most important to you is what I’ll make happen.
Selling Without an Agent
“I can sell my home without an agent and save the commission, especially in this hot market.”
Understandably, this thought is going through a lot of sellers’ minds right now and it makes total sense, but please don’t make the huge mistake I made all those years ago!
Using an agent to sell your home, whether it’s off-market or on-market, gets you the highest price possible, period. According to a study by the National Association of Realtors, homes sold with an agent sold for 35% higher than those sold by the owner. That more than pays for the commission price…and then some!
And, yes, of course I’m saying this also because it’s my job, but it’s also because of my own FSBO experience and the facts presented by NAR and others. I’ve seen the statistics both nationally and locally from all sorts of studies and when you sell with an agent, whether off-market or on the market, you get more than if you sell on your own – and it’s easier!
Next Steps
Whether you want to sell off-market or on the market, I’d love to help you. Email me if you have been thinking about selling your home and we can talk about whether it’s best to sell off-market or on the market and how to be sure you are getting the highest return possible.
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