SELL YOUR HOUSE WITHOUT AN AGENT
For many of you reading this, your first thought might be “Is this even possible? Is it legal to sell my house without a real estate agent?”
In short, yes. You can legally sell your house without an agent. You do not even need to list it on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service such as Realtor.ca).
What are the pros and cons of such a “non-traditional” approach? In this article, we will attempt to list out a few points of going with an agent; we will present an alternative option of selling without an agent and explain why finding the best fit for your needs will guarantee a great selling experience.
Selling with an Agent
The typical steps one has to go through to sell with an agent are:
- Contact the agent and negotiate a contract – this will detail out the price of your house, conditions in place and the agent’s commission rate.
- Clean and organize your house (otherwise known as staging) – a professional photographer may be hired to take the best images of your house for the listing.
- List your house on the MLS
- Allow showings – through an open house or individual showings, you basically invite the public to come through your house for a visual inspection. This may be narrowed down to parties who are genuinely interested to buy your home, but it is a necessary step in this process.
- Wait for and evaluate bids – The control is in the hands of the buyer, from the price to the closing timeline. You could be waiting for only a few days to months before you get the price you want for your house.
What are the Pros of selling with an agent?
Depending on market conditions and assuming your home is in a “ready-to-show” condition, a real estate agent can get your house sold at market rate or higher. There are several factors that influence how much your house is worth though it is usually the case that the better the condition of your home is, the higher the price it’ll fetch.
What are the Cons?
If your home is in less than excellent condition, you may have to invest time, energy and money to get it up to a standard suitable for showings. This may involve repairs, extensive renovations, loading items into storage and doing a thorough cleaning of the home. Some people just don’t have the time, energy or money to bring a house up to a ready-to-show condition.
In addition, sometimes the sellers would have to work with the buyer’s timeline on the date of closing. There could be a pressure to quickly settle on a new home by the said closing date instead of properly taking the time to analyze the options available and decide on the next best home.
Selling Without an Agent (an alternative option)
Many homeowners may not be aware that there are alternatives to a real estate agent to get your house sold. One of these options is private selling. Private selling has been around for several years and is a completely legitimate process.
What are the Pros of selling to a private buyer?
- Allows the homeowner to be in control of the sale of the home – from dictating the terms of closing to selecting a date that works for the homeowner, much more control is granted to the seller as opposed to the buyer in a traditional process.
- A Real Estate Lawyer executes the sale of the home (just like selling with an agent) – this is required for property sales in Ontario, and private buying companies like ours will make sure that the paperwork is handled in an accurate and timely manner.
- No repairs or renovations required – commonly known as “Buy As-Is”. It literally means that you can sell your house in its exact state whether it is cluttered, damaged, has unfinished renovations or even occupied with your tenants.
- No high commission rates or closing fees involved
- Privacy and discretion in the sale – especially for sensitive reasons such as selling due to a divorce or selling to pay off debts.
- No open houses or multiple showings – even before the pandemic, private selling were all about reducing the number of people involved in the sale.
- No inconvenience to the household throughout the whole selling process – you do not need to vacate your property for showings
Private home buyers such as Michael the Home Buyer have been around for years and have purchased several homes spread out across Southwestern Ontario. They are made up of a strong team of experienced professionals who are passionate about the real estate industry. Most importantly, they genuinely want to help homeowners and have a network of partners to assist in situations such as finding a new home, debt consolidation, moving to a retirement homes or junk removal.
At the end of the day, homeowners like yourself have to find out what is the best fit for your needs. Is your home in an excellent condition and you wish to get the best price for it? A real estate agent might be most suited for you. If your home is in less than great shape and you don’t wish to spend further time, money and energy to spruce it up, explore your options and talk to a private buyer.
To summarize, you can sell your house in Ontario without a real estate agent. But before you do so, evaluate what matters to you in a house sale and which option can best meet your needs:
- Selling with an agent: renovating and staging your home to get top market profit for your house -OR-
- Selling without an agent: without needing to stage or renovate to get a fair market value and save time, energy and money on a private closing date of your choice.
If you have further questions or need help deciding, give us a call at 1 (888) 986-9883. We’d love to hear from you!