Will I save Money Selling my Queens Home without an Agent?

Selling a house in Queens can be both an exciting and nerve-wracking experience. Among the many decisions you’ll need to make is whether to enlist the help of a local Queens real estate agent or go the DIY route and sell your home without professional representation. While saving money is a tempting proposition, it’s essential to weigh the pros and cons before making a final decision. In this blog post, we’ll delve into the potential advantages and disadvantages of selling your house without an agent, helping you make an informed choice.

Pros of Selling Without an Agent

1. Cost Savings: The most obvious benefit of selling your house without an agent is the potential cost savings. Queens real estate agents typically charge a commission, usually around 4-6% of the sale price. By opting for the “For Sale By Owner” (FSBO) route, you could avoid this hefty commission fee and keep that money in your pocket.

2. Control Over the Process: When you handle the sale yourself, you have complete control over every aspect of the process. From setting the price, marketing the property, scheduling showings, and negotiating with potential buyers, you’re in the driver’s seat, ensuring your home is presented in a way that you feel is best.

3. Direct Interaction with Buyers: As the seller, you’ll directly interact with potential buyers. This can be advantageous as you can gauge their interest firsthand, answer their questions, feel them out, and address any concerns promptly. Personalizing the selling process may help build rapport and establish trust with potential buyers.

4. Flexibility in Negotiations: Selling without an agent allows you to be more flexible during negotiations. You can decide how much you’re willing to compromise on the price, closing dates, or other terms, without a third party influencing the negotiations.

Cons of Selling Without an Agent

1. Legalities and Paperwork: NYC real estate transactions involve intricate legal processes and a substantial amount of paperwork. Without an agent, you may face challenges navigating through these complexities, documents, disclosures, etc. increasing the risk of legal issues or errors in documentation.

2. Lack of Expertise and Market Knowledge: Experienced Queens real estate agents bring extensive expertise and market knowledge to the table. They have a thorough understanding of current market trends, comparable home prices, realistic property values, neighborhood dynamics, and effective marketing strategies to help sell your house faster and at the best price possible.

3. Limited Network and Exposure: Experienced Queens real estate agents have big networks and access to multiple listing services (MLS) to showcase your property to a broader audience. Here in NYC, there are actually multiple MLS’s (OneKey, REBNY, OLR, BNYMLS, etc) so working with an agent to sell your property gives you exposure to one or all of these MLS’s. Pro tip: If you decide to hire an agent, hire one that is a member of multiple MLS’s, this will give you even more exposure. When selling on your own, you might find it harder to reach potential buyers and might miss out on crucial exposure to the buyers that are looking for a property like yours.

4. Time and Effort Intensive: Selling a house is time-consuming and requires considerable effort. Without an agent to handle the day-to-day tasks, you’ll need to invest significant time in pricing, advertising, coordinating showings, monitoring feedback, tracking competition, managing inquiries, negotiating offers, coordinating inspections, negotiating after inspections, finding a good attorney, communicating with buyer agents, communicating with buyer & seller attorneys, coordinating appraisals, coordinating surveys, resolving title issues, etc.

5. Not Getting Top Dollar: When you sell your home without an agent, you can pretty much guarantee that you will not sell for top dollar. That’s not to say that you can’t get a fair price, it just may not be top dollar since you did not give the house full exposure which lets any and all potential buyers see the house and make their bid. Ultimately, the only way to ensure that you get the best price possible for your house, is to put it on the open market and then let all interested buyers see the home, give you feedback, and submit their offers. We’ve actually had instances where a seller was planning to sell to someone (usually neighbor, friend, or family member) at one price, then we put it on the open market and ended up selling for $100K – $150K more than the price that they were planning to sell at.

Deciding whether to sell your house without an agent is a choice that demands careful consideration. While there’s potential to save money on commissions and have greater control over the process, it comes with its fair share of challenges, such as handling legal complexities and marketing effectively. In addition to that, you will most likely not get top dollar for the home since most FSBOs have limited exposure.

If you have a good understanding of the real estate market, are comfortable with legal paperwork/documentation, and have time to dedicate to the process, selling your Queens house without an agent might be a viable option. However, if you lack experience or find the prospect daunting, enlisting the help of a reputable Queens real estate agent could prove to be a wise investment in terms of time, effort, and ultimately achieving the best sale price.

Remember, every situation is unique, so take the time to evaluate your circumstances and consider seeking advice from Queens real estate professionals to make the most informed decision possible. Happy selling!