From the blog...
What you Should Know about For Sale By Owner Companies
The Canadian Real Estate Association has been under recent pressure to allow for-sale-by-owner companies to advertise listings on MLS®. The idea is to give the consumer more cost effective choices. Since early 2011 the for-sale-by-owner companies have been given access to post “mere listings” on the MLS®.
The two largest companies competing for this type of business are Com Free and Realtysellers. They advertise that they can list your home on the MLS® for a flat fee (ranging from $400 to $2000).
Does this sound too good to be true? Read on.
Firstly, you pay for the flat fee up front whether your home sells or not.
There are also “add-ons”. If you require any assistance beyond the “mere listing”, they will ask for payment for those services. You, as the homeowner, are solely responsible for showings, offers, marketing, sellings, etc. You get exactly what you pay for and if a Realtor® is involved on the Buying side, there is still a 2.5% commission to be paid.
A recent study in Toronto showed that of the 708 properties listed in 2012 by RealtySellers, only 43% were sold – and of those sold, 63% of those were sold to a buyer who was working with a Real Estate Agent.
Looking at Comfree, of the 1287 properties listed in 2012, only 52% were sold and of those sold, 55% of them were sold using a Realtor®. In summary, only 23% of the 1287 properties listed were sold without the services of a Realtor®.
When you do the math, close to 1000 properties listed by these companies were never sold yet they collected a flat fee of, on average, $1,000 for doing nothing – that adds up to $1 million in revenue.
Talk to a Realtor® and understand the services that are offered.
If you are planning to sell your Ottawa Home in the next 3-12 months, please give me a call. I’d be more than happy to help.
Chris
This is really informative post. Thanks for sharing.