Discount Commission Plans Sound Good.  Do They Work?

Short Answer.... Sometimes! 

So you want a low commission rate?  Who can blame you! We could give you a low commission and a short listing period.  We can beat any commission in our area, and I will if it is in your best interest to do so.  If that is what you really want, we can help you with that.  Even so, you should know that there is a difference between full price service and discount commission service.  An agent usually gets a LOT more money for you when you give me a little more room to work.  The commission helps pay for advertising and marketing.  Without a workable fee, the agent may not be able to correctly market your home.  Sometimes the right price helps a house sell faster, reducing agent expenses, resulting in a lower commission rate.  A lot depends on your specific home, location, price, and condition.  We can help with whichever way is right for you. 

When you call to interview one of our agents for the job of selling your house, we will offer CHOICES in what we call the FREE-FLEX tm Commission plan.  You are FREE to choose from a FLEXIBLE menu of services.  This program is EXCLUSIVE to me and my AMERICAN DREAM REAL ESTATE MARKETING PLAN.  Commissions range from a low of 2% for seller service, to a high of 10% for a truly amazing plan that actually gets more showings and puts more money in your pocket.  All I ask is that you REALLY think it through before you make the call.  And then, after we explain the plans, you are the boss.  You make the call!

What we won't do...  We won't lowball you or mislead you in order to get a listing.  We won't promise to do something that simply won't work just to make the commission number low enough to win some kind of bidding war.  The agent you choose can only advertise and market to the degree that the commission allows.  And marketing and advertising help create value. 

So, the MOST IMPORTANT question you need to answer is, Do you want to list the house, or actually SELL it ?  I have heard of agents that will promise seller fees of only 1% or combined seller and buyer agent fees of as low as 4%, paying 3% to buyer agent.  This plan claims to give the seller full MLS service for a low rate if some other agent actually brings a buyer.  This kind of plan has the listing agent giving away all his money to a buyer agent, or working without enough money to actually advertise your house.  If that is how he or she handles his or her money, by giving it away, then how do you think he will handle yours?  Maybe this is not the person you want to negotiate the sale of your house? 

Since we only get paid if I sell your house, then doesn't it makes sense that we will do everything we can to get it sold?

You see, in this market, there are a lot of things you have to do well to actually SELL a house - but there are very few you have to do to LIST a house.  To list is easy.  To sell takes MARKETING and ADVERTISING and TIME.  Buyers need somebody to actually answer the phone, take their call, set appointments, show the house nights, days, weekends.  They want a professional to help them with the decisions.  To get the buyers to call, I ADVERTISE and MARKET and ADVERTISE SOME MORE.  This costs real money, BUT IT WORKS.  The more we advertise a house, the more buyers will come.  The more buyers we have to choose from the more offers we might get.  The more offers we get, the higher the eventual selling price.  Does this make sense?

To make all this happen, your agent has to spend some money.  In order for us to be willing to spend that money, we have to know we are going to get paid when your house sells.  For these reasons, you can see that a discount agent cannot possibly create the circumstances of selling the house for top dollar.  By taking a discount  listing they are only fooling you into thinking their plan might work fast.  They don't pay for advertising because they won't make enough money to advertise.

The other thing that happens with a discount agent is that the buyer agent fee (the part of the listing commission they share with the buyer agent) is also discounted.  The other agent who brings a buyer will show better paying houses before they show the ones that don't pay much.  Make sense? The more the house pays, the harder the buyer agent will work to keep a deal together if it tries to fall apart.  If you want your house shown more often, and if you want the buyer agent to keep the buyer in the deal if a little problem comes up, then the buyer agent fee will need to be reasonable.  If your house is not shown very often then you cannot get top dollar.

A few years ago, you could hire just about any agent and get your house sold.  We used to have less than 4000 homes for sale at any one time in Greater Toledo.  Today there are over 6000 homes for sale in greater Toledo.   It's a real buyer's market.  Buyers have a lot to choose from.  If you want to succeed with your sale, you may do better with a full service plan that allows an agent to advertise the house and maybe even create a bidding war!

Think about this way.. If a Realtor took 50 discounted listings a month, and sold only 5 HE or SHE would make money.  But what if you were one of the 45 that did not sell?  Would you be happy? 

Do yourself a favor - before making any decisions.  Call and ask about our FREE-FLEX commission plan.  We will give you choices.  No games.  It's all up to you.  You can hire somebody to LIST your house, or hire somebody to SELL your house.  Either way, we might know the best agent for you.  There is only one way to find out.

The least you could do is give yourself a fighting chance and hear what we have to say!  Please call to schedule an interview.  My programs are NOT like any other.  Call today and mention the DISCOUNT COMMISSIONS page at www.DuganSells.com - Call  Lonn Dugan at 419-764-9649.