There is a certain real estate broker in San Diego who has a new angle with which he hopes to snag new listings:
SELL WITHOUT LISTING
NO SIGNS, NO OPEN HOUSES, NO HASSLE
Claiming to have 100’s of approved buyers looking for a home–who will also let sellers stay in their current home until new ones are found.
Let’s dissect that Sell Without Listing offer.
To begin with, any full time Realtor who has been in business for a period of time and has any presence online, should have a substantial database of buyers who could very well number in the thousands, not hundreds. And at least half of those will likely have been pre-qualified by a lender or local banker. We have been in business for a number of years and have a database that numbers well over 5000.
But does that mean we would ever recommend that because we have these buyers that a potential seller should not put their home on the MLS?
NEVER!
In this market where overbids are so common, why would anyone not want to expose their home to the broadest number of qualified buyers as possible? And one way to do so, among many others, is to list the home and put it on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), where thousands of agents are exposed to listed properties each day. Additionally, these listings are generally picked up by national services like Realtor.com, Zillow and Trulia.
And though there are arguments about the efficacy of open houses, there are times when sellers want to take the afternoon off and have their home shown and exposed to as many buyers as possible.
Finally, the idea of double-ending a real estate deal sounds lucrative and attractive (for the agent/broker), it really does a disservice to both buyer and seller. Imagine an attorney in litigation trying to represent both plaintiff and defendant. How could he or she adequately represent either one? The same logic, in this broker’s opinion, holds for real estate. If I am representing a seller, I want to fight and negotiate for best price and terms–and try to garner as many offers as possible in order to accomplish that goal. Likewise, if I am representing a buyer I always try to get best price and terms for them, while at same time beating out other potential offers.
I just can’t see how this campaign of “Sell Without Listing” can serve best interests of any San Diego home seller–unless the seller does not care about their bottom line and walking away with as much money as possible. In this market, even homes in dire need of repair are still selling for handsome profits. And if someone still doesn’t want to list, why not do a FSBO (For Sale By Owner)?
Bottom Line:
There is still no free lunch.
You may also be interested in reading:
Maximum Value for Your San Diego Home