Why would that be, you may ask. Well, aside from increased costs associated with marketing more properties for longer periods of time, this current Buyer's market has also forced sellers to examine new ways to make their properties stand out from competing homes for sale. And one sure way to accomplish that goal is to offer better incentives to the real estate agents. According to a recent (Nov. 9th) article in the Wall Street Journal, such "incentives have become much more widespread in recent months, especially in areas where inventories of unsold homes have soared."
Of course, proper pricing is still the most important factor, but in this declining market savvy sellers are reaching out to attract the attention of the people who work with the prospective buyers of their homes - the real estate agents. When you consider that a 1% increase in a real 
estate commission can represent a 20% increase in income to an agent, and that only a 2% increase in the fee can result in a 40% increase in what the agent will earn, doesn't it make sense to offer such a simple "reward" to the person that provides you with a ready, willing and able buyer, particularly in this market?
A mortgage rate increase may hurt sales, but a commission rate increase can change the status of a home from FOR SALE to SOLD.
For additional tips on selling your home, give me a call.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Rate Increase Sells Homes
A curious change has taken place within the real estate marketplace. I'm not talking about the shift from Seller's market to Buyer's market. And I'm not talking about mortgage rates. I'm talking about real estate commission rates going up!
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Dear Mr. Burnham,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your insight to this subject matter.
-An Interested Homeowner in Tewksbury.
Dear Jay,
ReplyDeleteRead down through your blog. Nicely done. Also tried a couple of the links to other states, but we don't plan to move for a while.
...Allan
Jay,
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to let you know that I really like how you’ve setup your blog and it has some great info on it.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Cooper
JCKC Realty
Jay, You made some very good points and the key is to excite all the REALTORS so that if they have a buyer your clients listing is the first one they see which in turn gives your listing a huge advantage. Our market is a little tighter than normal right now so pricing and incentives are key to getting homes sold in our market...if the home is even slightly overpriced it will not sell and in many cases won't even get any showings.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Sam