How to Save Thousands When Selling Your Home

Here are eight tactics for negotiating lower commission fees with agents and ways of saving even more if you are willing to try out some newer businesses in the market.

Marilyn Lewis • August 30, 2016• MoneyTalksNews

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Two forces — technology and a shortage of homes for sale — are cutting into the high commissions that real-estate agents traditionally charge. For home sellers, at least, who pay the fees of both buyer’s agents and sellers’ agents, these changes can add up to some serious savings.

Average savings: $3,693

A survey by the Seattle-based real-estate company RedFin recently found that:

Sixty percent of people who sold a home in the past year said they got a discount on the commission they paid to their real estate agent. The average discount was 41 percent off the typical commission.
Among people who bought a home in the past year, 46 percent said their agent gave them a refund, rebate, closing cost contribution or other form of savings of more than $100, with the average savings amount in that group being $3,693.

Redfin gathered the results from a SurveyMonkey Audience of 2,000 recent homebuyers or sellers in eight U.S. markets. (Redfin clients were not among those polled.) Everyone who responded to the survey used a broker of some type. Redfin, founded in 2004, charges sellers 1.5 percent of the sale price to list a home and promises to rebate a portion of the buyer’s agent commission when a sale closes……….

The Redfin survey showed that just over half of respondents (52 percent) said they prefer a full-service agent paid by commission.
The logic for many people who bring on experienced commissioned buyer’s agents is that these professionals can save them thousands of dollars through negotiations with sellers — more than covering the cost of their commission — by providing a level of hand-holding that a lower-cost competitor could not afford.

Here are eight tips for successfully negotiating a discount with an agent:

  1. Understand how fees work
  2. Just ask
  3. Shop around
  4. Be respectful
  5. Be realistic
  6. Do your homework
  7. Be creative
  8. Be prepared to give

Winning a negotiation rarely — if ever — means coming away with your entire ask. It means holding firm on some items and giving on others to reach a middle ground that satisfies both parties.