Sheri Place

Most first time home sellers don't realize the work that goes into listing, marketing and selling a home (especially in THIS market). When they try selling their home "For Sale By Owner" and are not successful, they then look to the professionals to determine the actual Fair Market Value of their home and the best forms of marketing it. When the property sells and the seller pays the agreed on commission (half of which goes to the listing broker which is split with the "listing agent", then the other half goes to the buyers broker and is split with the buyer agent), the commission comes out of the sellers proceeds (if they're fortunate enough to have any). If the buyer pays "Fair Market Value" for the property, they aren't paying the commission, the seller is. If it was a seller's market, the seller might be able to sell FSBO and forego paying a commission, but often times, they don't now the true value of their home and are either asking too little and end up leaving $ on the table, or ask too much and then it doesn't sell.

I like the comment Amanda made about hiring an expert. I don't do my own taxes, because I don't know all the laws and would certainly miss deductions that I didn't know I could take, so why not leave it to the experts! - Thu Feb 19 2009, 13:49