- What do you do to earn your fee?
You have decided to list your Berkshire property with a discount agency or perhaps sell your Berkshire County property on a “for sale by owner” website. You know that Real Estate Agents will usually charge a flat fee percentage of the sale price for selling your house. You believe that Realtors® get paid too much for doing too little. We understand. To help you know where your fee is going we have compiled a list of activities that every Harsch Associates Realtor® performs for their clients whether buyers or sellers.
In fact we list 55 activities that are routinely done by your Harsch Associates’ Realtor® (H.A.) for every buyer and seller. A little more research would turn up well over 100 tasks that your Realtor® should perform for you in return for their fee. We think once you know the facts you will agree that the professional fee for selling your home is very reasonable.
Before your H.A. Realtor® lists your property on the local Berkshire County Multiple Listing service the Realtor® researches current properties on the market comparable to yours, looks at your towns’ recent sales in the MLS, looks at property tax rolls, verifies county public property records, completes a comparative market analysis, discusses marketing planning and strategies, explains the listing contract, disclosures and addendums, completes a listing presentation, presents the required state forms for signatures, and assesses the curb appeal of the home. All of these things occur before you even agree to list your home with the agent. Those are 10 tasks that must be completed to give you an idea of the value of your home. An top agent will also ask that you get a professional appraisal of your home before you decide to list. Keep in mind that if you do not list your property with an agent you speak with then all of these Realtor® tasks are completed without compensation.
Twenty two more tasks begin and continue after you list your property with a Harsch Associates Realtor® and they include: reviewing the title to your property, getting a plat map from the local public offices, reviewing any homeowner association fees and bylaws, reviewing lead based paint status, obtaining the owner statement of property condition, completing the forms required by the MLS system to list your property, completing a brochure to present to buyers, discussing inclusions and exclusions involved in the sale, compiling a list of needed repairs, making recommendations for improving the home to impress buyers, obtaining average electric and fuel costs per year, obtaining copies of keys to the property, completing a file with legal paperwork required by the state, discussing the listing with the Broker, measuring the rooms, verifying additional amenities and special fixtures or furnishings that add to the value of the home, photographing the interior and exterior of the home, preparing a video presentation virtual tour of the home, adding the home to the agency’s online website, adding the home to many syndication sites and creating written print ads.
Twenty three more tasks begin after the home is placed on the market. Now comes the matter of showing the home to its best advantage and screening buyers.
This means multiple car trips to and from the home to be present when a potential buyer tours the house to protect the sellers interests, multiple trips to and from the home to meet with other Realtors® who bring buyers, answering multiple phone inquiries, checking on the property if it is unoccupied on a regular basis, notifying the owner of any concerns or issues discussed by the potential buyers, receiving offers of purchases, mediating offers to purchase, delivering the sellers disclosure to the potential buyer, obtaining a pre-qualification letter from the buyers bank, delivering purchase and sales agreements to potential buyers and owners and co-brokers, confirming and handling deposits and escrow accounts, updating the MLS listing to pending if the seller approves the offer, arranging for Title V reports, being present at the inspection of the home by the buyers’ inspection agent, following up with the loan processing, reviewing the home inspector’s report for errors, verifying all inspection and contingency clauses in the purchase and sales agreements, attending appraiser appointments and reviewing the appraisal document, communicating with lawyers and lenders while making every effort to ensure that “no surprises” occur at or before the closing.
We are at 55 tasks for each and every home listed by the Harsch Associates Realtor® and we haven’t even begun to discuss handling referrals, continuing education to keep current on state laws regarding real estate, daily review of the MLS to seek homes for buyer clients, working the community to foster good will, covering for in house agents when they are on vacation or out of town, writing up offers of purchase for buyer clients, attending closings, updating websites, calling other agents for feedback on your home, handling rescission of offers, car maintenance, continual e-mail and voice mail return calls, counseling buyers and seller through the long process of the first offer to the closing date, office meetings, open houses, and handling negotiations (16 additional tasks).
Incredible amounts of work are being done by your Harsch Associate Realtor® behind the scenes as they present a calm and professional demeanor to clients and potential buyers. As an American author once said “always behave like a duck, calm and unruffled on the surface but paddling like the devil under the surface.” From the initial listing presentation until the day of closing and handing you the check your Harsch Associates Realtor® is there paddling like the devil to sell your home. Another fact to consider is that if you accept a lower sale price your listing agent’s fee is also accepting lowered fee because their fee is tied to the amount the Berkshire County home actually sells for.
These tasks are just a few of the activities included in the professional fee you pay your Harsch Associates Realtor® at the closing. If your home does not sell the Realtor® receives no compensation for time and effort since no fee is paid upfront. We believe that our agents are the best at selling Berkshire County Real Estate. To discuss listing your home this 2012 spring season call a Harsch Associates Realtor® today to get the process started. 413-458-5000. We work haard for you from beginning task to handing over the key to the new owner.
