NAR in the News

1. Many homes sold directly by their owners are never placed on the open market, so they don’t attract a market price offer.
According to the most recent research, 39 percent of homes sold without professional assistance were sold to buyers the sellers knew in advance (relatives, friends, neighbors, etc.). These closely held home sales are not going to command top dollar, because there is little to no competition for them and price negotiations may be affected by personal relationships.

2. Even if do-it-yourself homeowners place their home on the open market, they often have problems marketing the home effectively.
Although 77 percent of recent home buyers used the Internet last year to search for a home, only 17 percent of for-sale-by-owner sellers placed their home online. These home sellers typically use methods like yard sales, newspaper ads, and word-of-mouth, which have limited reach. Preparing the home for sale can also be difficult – many homeowners see their homes through rose-colored glasses and have problems identifying and fixing issues that make their homes less appealing and marketable to buyers.

3. Real estate professionals know how to price a home appropriately for the market.
This is one of the most difficult tasks faced by home sellers who don’t hire a professional. Homes that are priced too high for the market don’t sell, and after a certain amount of time, are ignored by buyers in favor of new listings, even when the price is dropped. Homes that are priced too low represent a loss for the seller.

Despite all the hype about the latest home price valuation sites, an estimate generated on the Internet is a static representation (and a sometimes wildly inaccurate one, at that) of a dynamic commodity. A satellite photo taken from space and a computer in some distant location that crunches raw data is no substitute for a professional who knows the local marketplace, its inventory, and the idiosyncrasies of its buyers and sellers.