- SellForSure University Home Page
- Module 1: Introduction
- Module 2: Sell By Owner, or With Agent?
- 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 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
- How a Real Estate Agent gets Paid
- 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
Choosing the wrong real estate agent can be a very costly mistake. There are two main criteria that most people use when picking an agent – and using these criteria alone is exactly how not to choose a real estate agent.
In the real estate business, there’s a phenomenon known as buying a listing. A real estate agent can buy a listing by giving the seller an inflated number for the the home value. Sometimes this is just an honest mistake – an agent might not have done his homework, or hasn’t taken into account a number of factors which weigh against the home in terms of its market price. Other times, an agent will deliberately mislead the homeowner and say that they can get a price for the home which just isn’t supported by the market data whatsoever.
Whether the value is inflated on purpose or by accident, you don’t want to choose an agent simply because of the price they say they can get for your home. There is no doubt that some agents will be able to ultimately get a higher price than others, but red flags should go up when an agent promises you an over-the-top sales price.
The second main criteria that people use to pick an agent is how much commission they charge. It’s understandable that homeowners would look at the commission – it’s an easy number to calculate, whereas it’s much more difficult to calculate all the ways an agent actually earns that commission. But beware an agent who offers a low commission. They are broadcasting to you that their services are worth less than most other agents – and they’re probably right.
The best agents are paid commensurately. If you save 1% on the commission, but that agent brings you in a sales price that’s 2-3% lower than another agent – how much money have you saved? That’s why it’s important not to pick your agent solely based on how much commission they charge.