It’s no secret that the real estate agent commission cuts the biggest slice out of your take-home cash when you sell your home.
While only 8% of all home sales were FSBO (for sale by owner) in 2019, a report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) found that 63% of those homeowners sold on their own because they didn’t want to pay the agent’s commission.
The problem with that logic is FSBO homes typically sell for significantly less than homes represented by agents. A home that sells for more by even a few percentage points can make up for the money you would have spent on commissions and then some.
Meanwhile, going it alone means you’re on the hook for all the work.
As explained by Kim Erwin, a top-selling agent in Corpus Christi, Texas: “Sellers think they’re going to save money by avoiding the commission, so they sell their home a little bit cheaper. But are you really saving money if you’re selling your home for less than what you could’ve gotten with the right agent?”
Ultimately, you want to avoid going down a path based on your assumptions about commissions. Doing so could leave you up to your neck in legal contracts or leaving money on the table with a buyer who takes you to the cleaners.
With so much on the line, you need to go into this process with your facts straight. HomeLight’s Simple Sale tool gathers offers from our network of pre-approved cash buyers to show what you can make selling directly to someone like an investor. We’ll also pull up an estimate of what you could sell for on the open market with the help of a top real estate agent. The top 5% of agents are proven to sell houses for up to 10% more than the average agent.