Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Here’s the news release, out of Asheville:
Study shows sellers who hire an agent make less money from their sale. Sellers who sold by owner paid no commissions and received their asking price.
Asheville, NC – August 22, 2008- A study, conducted by the well respected Consumer Reports publication, found that home sellers who used a real estate agent made less money than sellers who sold by owner. The report also found that nearly all of the people who sold ‘by owner’ received near their original asking price.
‘This is great news for people who need to sell their home’, said Tommi Crow, President of Asheville-based Crow Erickson, Inc and InfoTube.net. ‘Consumer Reports published a well researched and unbiased article that clearly finds home sellers are financially better off selling their home without an agent.’ Real estate commissions take a huge bite out of the money sellers receive at closing. For example, a typical real estate commission would erase about $18,000 of equity on a $300,000 home.
The September 2008 Consumer Report findings are similar to the results from studies conducted by Stanford and Northwestern Universities. All three studies concluded that ‘for sale by owner’ (fsbo) sellers made more money than sellers who used an agent.
‘The release of this study is very timely news for some, and life changing news for others,’ said Crow. Zillow.com recently reported that nearly 30 percent of the people who purchased a home in the last 60 months, now owe more money on their home than it is valued at. Furthermore, Zillow found that 45-60 percent of buyers, who purchased in 2006, are upside down.’
‘For fortunate homeowners that have a lot of equity, the possibility of keeping more money from their home sale is great news. For the unfortunate, who have little or no equity in their homes, the report offers real hope in knowing they can clearly sell their property for a realistic asking price, without paying commissions they can not afford,’ added Crow, also a real estate broker for over 20 years.
I’d like to see the study mentioned in this press release – the whole thing comes across as a bit self-serving for the info tube people, who obviously would like people to go the FSBO route and buy their products. My compliments on the press release from that point of view, but goodness, give us the study if you’re going to plug it like that.
I’ve gone both routes, buying and selling without a realtor, and, more often, using a realtor. When good realtors use their expertise to benefit the client, I’d say they win out.