We have all heard about the flat fee real estate service companies like Trelora, Help You Sell, Assist to Sell and many others. They tout a one low flat fee to sell your home and promise to save you thousands. The flat fee prices vary as does the services offered for each rate. Some suggest you pay a full 2.8% in commission to the agent and supply the buyer, yet still some others think you can get away with offering as little as $2,000 or $3,000 to the buyer’s agent. Sounds great! Problem is, it rarely works.
If you take nothing away from this column then just know this…If you do not sell your home, then you save nothing! That’s where the problem comes in. These flat fee service companies have a poor record of selling homes. According to MLS, one company (which shall remain nameless) only sold 400 plus homes out of a total of 59,000 plus homes sold in 2015. They sold less than 1% of the entire inventory sold in 2015. I am not sure why a seller would want to take a shot with such low odds of selling their home. After all, the goal is to sell the home, right? I would think everyone would want to give themselves the best shot at selling their home at the highest price in the shortest amount of time. In fact many times a professional real estate agent or team earns their commission and more selling your home at a higher price. Even if they don’t sell it at a higher price, we know from experiences that there are going to be bumps, problems, and obstacles along the way once your home gets under contract. Many times, full time professional real estate agents are the ones best equipped to help you navigate troubled waters. This once again will show that the fees paid to the listing agent are well worth it.
This is not some type of war between professional real estate agents and flat fee service companies. The data is the data and everyone can see it for themselves. The flat fee services companies are just not that successful. For there to be a war between professional real estate agents and flat fee service businesses, these companies would actually have to grab a large chunk of market share. Historically going back 20 years or more, they have never developed a large market share, and they won’t in the future. The model doesn’t work, and the stats show that year after year.
In conclusion, if you are trying to decide which way to go in the sale of your home, just ask yourself this critical question: “What do we save if we don’t sell it?” Chances are you won’t, you may sit on the market too long and miss your window of opportunity to sell the house during the peak selling season.
If you would like to see the statistics of flat fee services companies or hear more about how we differ and our success rate, contact us at the Colorado Dream House Team at 720-446-6325 or team@coloradodreamhouse.com
Dan Polimino is a Broker/Owner with the Colorado Dream House Team, Keller Williams Realty DTC. Contact the Colorado Dream House Team, Keller Williams Realty DTC. Follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, Watch us on YouTube, Questions?
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