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A few real estate questions?
I know there are a few realtors on this board, so I thought I would throw this out there. We are thinking of selling our place in North Austin to move to a bigger place more South or Central. We've only been in our house for two years, so I doubt we would make anything on the sale, but we definitely won't move if we are going to lose money. When we bought this house it was FSBO, so we've never worked with a realtor. My questions are:
1) If you use the same realtor for selling and buying, can you negotiate the commission?
2) Are there people or RE agents that will come out before you are ready to put the house one the market that can make suggestions on updates/improvements to make before the house goes on the market? I know we have to do some stuff, but I want to make sure whatever we do is effective.
Any input would be super appreciated!
TIA
Re: A few real estate questions?
I'm not an RE, but I'll answer what I know...
Yes, if you buy and sell with the same one, they'll often negotiate their commission, especially if the house you're buying is more expensive than the house you're selling. Mine took 4% instead of 6% (and only 1% on the house we sold, the other 3% was on the house we bought - yeah for him).
I'm sure there are REs that will come out and give you advice before you go live, but you might have to go ahead and sign a contract with them. i'll let the other girls answer this one. we bought a book on "how to sell your home in 30 days" and followed it pretty closely. Our house sold in 6 days.
The only other thing I wanted to mention was to ask if you've looked for a new house yet - you mentioned wanting something bigger more central, and that's almost impossible (unless you're living in something super tiny right now). The closer you get to central austin, the smaller the homes get, and the prices are exponential. you can definitely still find some mcmansions down here, but you'll be paying well over $1M. If you're thinking South, like Circle C, then you'll be able to get a larger home (over 2000sq/ft), but I think they're still pretty $$.
Goodluck!!
I'm a nestie Realtor and I'd love to answer your questions and would love the chance to work with you! Some Realtors discount their commission when a client sells and then buys. I am one of them. I will list your home for 1% commission, with the understanding that you use me to purchase your next home - and I'll collect full commission there (since the seller there will pay my commission). I will still do EVERYTHING that I do for any listing - even though you are getting it at a discount - it doesn't mean I discount my services.
To answer your second question - YES - agents come out and look at your home - make suggestions and give a pricing opinion. Basically that's what they would list it for - and show proof of how they got to that number etc. It's called a listing presentation. Then they go through the selling process, give you an idea of net proceeds, provide showing tips and have you sign a listing agreement & take photos of the property (if you choose to go that far).
I'd love to talk to you about this in more detail. Email me and we can start the discussion. I'll then give you my contact number and you can choose to call me if that's easiest for you. At that time I'll let you know what I have to offer as far as listing your home. I also want to talk to you about what your expectations are when you go to purchase in south/central Austin. I have some areas in mind.... I have any time tomorrow. Thursday or Friday late afternoon and Saturday to come out and meet you and see your home.
(christi@atxhomesforsale.com)