Must Know Info about Wilmington, NC Real Estate Companies

For Sellers: (Buyers click here)

The Listing Agent is the person you hire to sell your home. The Selling Agent (the agent who is representing the Buyer – more commonly known as the Buyer’s Agent) finds your home and brings their client to see it. The sales commission (how we get paid) is then split between the listing agent and the buyer’s agent.  

What no other real estate agent will tell you is that, over 90% of the time, it will be another real esate agent (other than the one you hired) that actually "brings the buyer to the table" and consummates the sale of your home.  It is our industry's "dirty little secret".  It doesn't matter if it is the biggest named agent with the biggest named company.  Again, on average, over 90% of the time, another agent will actually sell the home (bring the buyer).

So why pay a high commission fee to the listing agent, since the buyer’s agent is the one bringing the buyer?

Many agents will use their marketing strategies to justify their high commissions.

"Look at our great marketing plan!"

"We get you results to get your home sold fast!"

"We spend thousands on advertising!"

"OUR Listings Sell!"

Don’t Buy It!!!

Newspapers and Home Guides sell homes. It’s a simple marketing ploy that is so easy to believe. Why? Because real estate consumers have been taught, over many years and through relentless corporate advertising, what they think they need, or should have, in order to sell their home. Before you pay a 6% listing commission that’s based upon a marketing plan of newspapers and home guides we suggest you consider the following:

Every year The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) publishes a report called the “Profile of Home Buyer’s and Seller’s Report”. This report is generated from a six-page questionnaire that is mailed to a national sample of 100,000 recent homebuyers and sellers who purchased and/or sold their homes within a given time frame. According to this NAR report, only 5% of all homebuyers actually purchased a home they found in a newspaper ad. Only 5%! The NAR report also reveals that only 1% of homebuyers actually purchased a home they found in a home guide/magazine. Only 1%! Even a simple yard sign is 3 times more effective in selling your home than Newspaper and Home Guide Print Ads combined! 

The main reason that real estate companies and agents run ads of homes for sale is to attract home sellers, not home buyers. Agents know that sellers do, in fact, look at the various real estate ads in newspapers and home guides/magazines. They see how the ads are laid out and formulate ideas as to who would do the best job of presenting their home to the home buying audience. And why do they look at these ads? Because sellers still think this will help them get their home sold! But now you know that newspaper and home guide ads won’t help very much because of the 5% and 1% figures explained above.

Listings are the “bread & butter” of any real estate company, and advertising in print media is just an attempt to market potential sellers and for self-motivated name recognition.  Next time you look at a print media advertisement for a real estate agent, look to see what they are actually selling.  How big is the picture of themselves in the ad?  How big is the picture/logo of their company in the ad?  Now, how big is the picture of the homes they are "selling" in the ad?  If the homes in the ad are little thumbnail pictures, they are using those homes to market themselves and their company and to attract new listings - not to help sell your home. 

The reason we don’t advertise our listings in print media isn’t just because it’s so expensive; it’s because it has become so outdated and ineffective! Also, by the time your listing would make it into print media, your listing would be weeks old. This is incredibly important in today’s world of instant access of information, because the NAR reveals that 84% of home buyers use the internet as an information source when searching for a home.  We concentrate our marketing strategies on internet based marketing techniques.  In order to sell your home in today's market, you need a good internet presence and a good internet presentation.

One of the most important targets that you want to focus on marketing to is other Realtors!  We are the ones with all of the buyer clients. One of the ways you can attract other real estate agents to your home is to "tinker" with the buyer agent's side of the commission.  If you go above the 2.5%-3% "industry standard" that is typically offered to buyer agents, your home will get more showings - and increase the likelihood of an offer on your home.  With our reduced commission structure, it enables you to increase the buyer agent's side of the commission, and the total commission would still be less than other real estate companies would charge you.

When I have a client ready to buy a home, I do not go to the local newspaper or home guides to find homes for my clients. I do what every other real estate agent does. I go on the Realtor® MLS. It is instant access to every home in the local market that is for sale. I also set up my clients with an automated email system that sends an email to them the second a new listing goes on the market that meets the criteria they are looking for in a new home. 

Most home sellers realize the importance of having their home listed on the Realtors® MLS.  What they don’t realize is how critical the MLS really is when it comes to exposing and securing the sale of their home through buyer’s agents from other real estate companies that see their home listed on the Realtors® MLS! 
 
Three of the most important questions any home seller can ask an agent before signing a listing contract are the following:

1.    How many homes did you list last year?
2.    How many of your own listings were sold directly by you?
3.    How many of your listings were sold by buyer’s agents from other real estate companies that saw your listing on the Realtors MLS?

The fact of the matter is your home will be sold, on average over 90% of the time, by another real estate company/agent other than the real estate company/agent you hired!  

Once a home seller knows the real truth about how selling homes really works they soon realize, it doesn’t matter what the name of the real estate company is. It especially doesn’t matter if the real estate company you hire promises newspaper ads or home guide ads.

Also, always remember that real estate agent's fees are negotiable!

Some agents might not be able to negotiate a listing commission fee however, because many times, the Broker in Charge of the real estate firm will set the commission fee for that office.  Before you even try to negotiate a commission, make sure that your agent is in a position to do this with you. 

Once you know that you are dealing with the person you can negotiate with, make sure that agent is a REALTOR®. Not all real estate agents are REALTORS®. 

All Wilmington REALTORS® use the same Multiple Listing Service (MLS) when they list your home for sale. 

To learn more about our listing service click here.

 

For Buyers:

Why you need your own real estate agent when buying a home:

Did you know that the listing agent and the company they work for are working directly for the seller? It's their job to get the seller the best price and terms. A buyer agent works directly for you, trying to get you, the buyer, the best price and terms. Would you use your spouse's lawyer in your divorce? Why would you use someone that by law is forbidden to tell you any confidential information regarding the sellers and there motivation and willingness to sell. A buyer agent can research what the sellers paid for the home, how long it's been on the market, current taxes, recommend inspections, give you full seller disclosures, do a current market analysis to determine the maximum you should pay, while negotiating on your behalf, to get the home or property for you, at the lowest price and most favorable terms possible. Buyers pay us NOTHING! It's the sellers that pay our commissions.

Buyer Rebates*:

Ask just about any traditional real estate agent what he/she thinks about giving back part of their commission to their home buying clients in the form of a real estate rebate and watch them stammer and stutter their way around this topic. Most big name real estate companies continue to do business the traditional way and get away without offering real estate rebates to their home-buying clients.

One of the biggest reasons traditional agents get away with not offering rebates is because most homebuyers are not very well informed about buyer rebates. How they work, where the money comes from, will a rebate affect the price they may pay for that next home or are they even legal in the first place? While there is no law on the books in any state that says real estate agents must offer a rebate, homebuyers should at least know they exist and have some basic knowledge about how rebates work so they may make an informed decision when it comes to using an agent that offers a rebate or one that does not.

To be honest, just the word rebate sounds cheap. For me it congers up images of my dad mailing in a rebate form so he can get two bucks back on a case of Pennzoil. And, there is nothing wrong with that. A penny saved is a penny earned.

But, rebates provide homebuyers with far more than just a couple of bucks back. A good homebuyer rebate can add up to thousands of dollars off the price of your next home purchase.

But, it’s been very slow for real estate companies to adapt to the market and offer rebates.

Traditional real estate agents love to use the word 'discounters.' It’s their way of cheapening the innovative ways we have come up with to save real estate consumers (buyers and sellers) thousands of dollars on a single real estate transaction.

The rebate process is very simple. In any real estate transaction there is a buyer and a seller. A listing agent works with the seller and a buyer’s agent works with the buyer. The party/person who pays all the commission in a real estate transaction is the home seller. Buyers never pay a commission!

Before signing up with another Realtor at a big, traditional real estate company, ask them if they will give you cash back at closing. They won’t do it! These real estate companies charge their agents as much as 50% of their sales commission on each transaction (home sold). That kind of bite doesn't leave them much (if any) room to offer homebuyers any type of rebate! What do they give you, the homebuyer? ZERO, ZIP, NADA! If you’re lucky, maybe a potted plant or a gift certificate for $10 off your next meal at KFC! Gulf Stream Realty will share our commission with you. Why use anyone else?

To learn more about our buyer rebate program, click here.

 *OFFER DETAILS EXPLAINED:
1) You must request & sign our Buyer Rebate Agreement.
2) You must sign an exclusive Buyer Agency Agreement.
3) You must provide a pre-approval or proof of funds letter.
4) The purchase price must be over $100,000.
5) Rebate capped at $2,500.00.
6) If obtaining financing, the lender must approve.

This rebate is offered to obtain new business and is not offered unless requested. If requested, the agreement must be signed BEFORE the buyer views qualifying properties.