- SellForSure University Home Page
- Module 1: Introduction
- Module 2: Sell By Owner, or With Agent?
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- Why You Should Use a Real Estate Agent to Sell Your House
- Drawbacks to Using an Agent
- Real Estate Agent Designations
- How to Choose a Real Estate Agent
- How NOT to Choose a Real Estate Agent
- How to Interview a Real Estate Agent
- Questions to Ask your Real Estate Agent
- Dual Agency
- Check an Agent's Work
- Communicating with your Real Estate Agent
- Discount and Flat Fee Brokers
- Real Estate Listing Agreements
- Your Real Estate Agent's Job in a Nutshell
- Module 4: Valuing and Pricing your Home
- Today's Real Estate Buyers are Savvy and Empowered
- Real Estate Values and Pricing
- What Matters and What Doesn't in Pricing your Home
- Every Home is Unique
- Three Major Factors affecting Real Estate Values
- Online Real Estate Price Evaluations
- Real Estate CMA or Comparative Market Analysis
- Real Estate Appraisal
- Realtor Property Report (RPR)
- Which Real Estate Valuation should I Trust
- The Real Estate Auction Sales Model
- Overpricing Your Home for Sale
- How to Maximize your Home Sale Price
- The Virtue of Underpricing your Home
- Selling your home with little or no equity
- Module 5: Preparing Your Home for Sale
- Inspecting your Home Prior to Selling It
- Preparing a Full Disclosure Package for Home Buyers
- Contents of a Real Estate Disclosure Package
- Making Repairs to your Home prior to Selling It
- Required Retrofits of your Home
- As-Is Real Estate Sales
- Selling as a Certified Pre-Owned Home
- Preparing your Home for Sale
- Enhance your Home's Curb Appeal
- Home Staging
- The Cost of Preparing your Home for Sale
- Module 6: On the Market
- When to List your Home for Sale
- Living in a Home vs. Selling One
- Getting the Word out about your Home
- Showings and Open Houses
- When Buyers are In the House
- Make your home Available, but make Yourself Scarce for Showings
- Offers and Negotiations
- Selling a Home that is Tenant Occupied
- Selling your Home in a Tough Market
- Recognizing the Wrong Price for your Home
- Real Estate Price Adjustment Strategy
- How to Sell a Home and then Buy Another
- Moving after Selling your Home
- Module 7: Negotiating and Closing the Sale
- The Residential Purchase Agreement
- What Happens when you get an Offer on your Home
- Negotiating the Sale of your Home
- Top Negotiation Tactics to use when Selling your Home
- The Buyer's Due Diligence
- The Real Estate Closing Timeline
- Delays in the Home Sale Process
- The Buyer's Appraisal in the Purchase Process
- Real Estate Tax Information for Home Sellers
- 1031 Tax-Deferred Exchange
- How much it Costs to Sell a Home
- Module 8: SellForSure System Walkthrough
- Goals of the SellForSure System
- The SellForSure Home Sale System Guarantees
- Traditional Real Estate Marketing Methods
- Active Real Estate Marketing
- Free Home Inspection and Termite Inspection
- SellForSure Pre-Sale Services
- The SellForSure Web Portal Status System
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 1
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 2
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 3
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 4
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 5
- Launching your Home on the Market
- SellForSure System Listing Syndication
- How to Manage Showings on your Home
- Real Estate Open House Events
- The Perfect Home Sale Schedule
- While your Home is on the Market
- The Two Week Review Cycle
- What to Expect Once your Home is Under Contract
- Closing the Sale of your Home
- Module 9: The Realty World Advantage


If agents were free, everyone would use one, right? But not everyone knows exactly how a real estate agent gets paid, or what they get paid for.
Agents are mostly paid on commission, which they only get if the home actually sells. That is, an agent works for free until the very last moment, when the deal closes. Many agents spend weeks or months working on a listing, only to have it end up not selling, often times through no fault of their own. That’s tough, but that’s the system.
When the home fails to sell, it works out better for the seller than the agent – after all, the seller didn’t have to spend thousands of dollars for all the time that the agent put in on trying to get the home sold. It’s strictly a pay-for-performance deal. If the agent doesn’t perform, for whatever reason, the agent gets nothing.
When an agent does actually do the job they get hired to do, they do often get paid a handsome commission, it’s true. When the home sells in a week, it can seem like the agent is really getting a lot of money for very little work. On the flip side, an agent can do a tremendous amount of work, and then get paid nothing. It’s a winner-take-all, loser-gets-nothing system.
When an agent takes on a listing, they’re also assuming a significant amount of risk that they’ll not get paid a dime – and higher risk means higher reward. And that begs the question – in a hot market, when you’ve got a well-priced and desirable property, there’s a lower risk that it won’t end up selling, right? Then shouldn’t the commission be negotiable?
In fact, commissions – like everything else in real estate – are negotiable. If you are thinking your home is going to be an easy sale (or even if you don’t think so) – go right ahead and try to negotiate the commission. Don’t take it as a bad sign if the agent isn’t flexible on their commission. Many agents are worth every penny they charge. If they won’t budge on the commission and they really seem like they are going to do a first-rate job getting you top-dollar for the home, keep them in the running.
Realize, too, that the commission is typically split 50/50 between buyer’s agent and seller’s agent. That’s not always the case, but it’s typical. Ask your agent how much of the commission he will be giving to the buyer’s agent. It’s not a bad idea to give the buyer’s agent a higher split, or offer the buyer’s agent a flat cash bonus on top of the split. Incentivizing the buyer’s agent to show your property is not a bad idea.
It’s important to understand that the listing agent will have to share his portion of the commission with his brokerage – he might only walk away with 70-80% of the commission earned. Out of that will come taxes and expenses for marketing the property, his staff costs, etc. At the end of the day, the commission that a listing agent receives is much smaller than it may at first appear.
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[…] such big believers in this that we will agree to credit the seller, from the listing agent’s commission at close of sale, the costs paid by the seller for the home and termite inspections obtained at […]
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[…] course, when an agent represents both parties in the transaction, he typically is paid the full commission. In a case like this, some agents may agree to accept a lower commission, to entice the buyer […]
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[…] You really need to know if this is someone you can trust. Is this someone who you feel will do their best to get you the very best price for your home – or is this someone who is mostly concerned with getting your home sold quickly and getting a fat commission check? […]
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[…] is when it comes to netting the most money for the sale. Often times in a private sale, there is no commission, or a much lower commission, and you may not need to lay out cash preparing the home for sale on […]
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[…] agent is in the service business. They’re going to be well paid for that service. You deserve to get the kind of service you expect for the money they’re […]
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[…] proceeds of the sale. They include paying off your loan for any existing mortgage(s) or liens, and your real estate agent’s commission. Additional costs include the seller’s share of title and escrow fees, and, in some cases, […]
[…] to the purchase price. Next, add together all the expenses you’ve incurred to sell your home (commissions, staging, cleaning, etc) and subtract this figure from the sale price. If you’ve made less […]