Another Teran Realty First:

The One Percent Solution: A New Approach to Real Estate Commissions


Real estate commissions are negotiable. Until now, however, most homeowners have found, not by much.

We are pleased to be introducing a new concept to this area: “unbundling services.” This means allowing a homeowner to select from the many services we provide when marketing and selling homes for clients those that may be appropriate for them. Some sellers may wish to do some of the work involved in selling their home, while at the same time having the advantages of the advice and experience of a real estate professional. Until now, as far as we know, the only options were either to engage a broker and pay the full-service fee, or, to go it alone, as a “FISBO” – for sale by owner - with the disadvantages and often lower selling prices that went along with that.

The chart below outlines services we can provide for 1%, 2%, or 3%, respectively, if you decide to list with us and do some (or none) of the work yourself.

The single most valuable marketing tool of any broker is the combined power of the Multiple Listing Service together with a listing on Realtor.com. Until now, a homeowner could not get his/her home into those media without paying for all the services a broker can provide. Now we offer the opportunity for everyone to utilize these for a small fraction of the cost.

This is new for 2004. We expect some homeowners will appreciate the choices, although it may well be that most homeowners will continue to want their broker to take care of everything. Our goal is to make choices possible. If this is of interest to you, please give us a call and we can discuss a plan that’s best for you.

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Keep in mind this fee schedule is for the listing and marketing part of selling your property. While these are the only fees you need to pay to put your home into the Multiple Listing Service and Realtor.com, you may want to consider offering some compensation to a buyer’s agent who may bring a buyer. Whether to do that or not is entirely your choice. We’d be happy to discuss that question with you.

Postscript: The idea of offering consumers more choices like this was introduced to us a recent seminar at a broker’s convention in California. The seminar leader had introduced this to his area a year or so ago and said he received 3 death threats. We hope Woodstock is a little more accepting of free market competition and change.

 

Andrew and Chloe

Chart of Services   |   Explanation of Unbundled Services

 
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Our 2004 Real Estate Guide for Sellers