Good post, REALTOR.

Saying that there are security risks when selling a home yourself is
the same tactic I've seen used in car dealerships when they lowball
women buyers on a trade in: "Oh yea, you could sell it yourself, but
some maniac might follow you home, get your licenese plate, it's
extremely dangerous. For your own personal safety, you should trade
the car into us for $5000 below what you could get for it if you sold
it yourself."

There are a number of ways to make this a non-issue.

Why do I say that "safety" is not a valid reason to list in MLS?

From experience, I can walk into any REALTOR's office, present myself
as a buyer and be viewing the inside of homes in the next 10 minutes
without ever having signed a document or presented ID. Sure, the
realtor has the combo to the lock box.. The same combo that I watched
him unlock the lock box with. That combo is likely to work for most of
the homes of that listing agent.

In some cases, I've called listing brokers and they've given me the
combo to the lock box on the property without ever having met me - they
were just too lazy to come out and show the property.

I find zero security in listing my property with an agent.

Q: Don't realtor's "screen" people.
A: Sure, they ask for a prequalification letter from a lender and ask
the potential buyer some questions. I've never had a realtor call to
check my prequalaification letter or ask me for ID.

Q: Don't realtors make sure that only qualified people make offers on
your home?
A: Sure, see above. Realtors also get earnest money checks from
potential buyers, which are held in escrow. If you're selling a home
yourself, you can do the exact same thing... Tell anyone if they want
to make an offer, they need to deposit escrow money!

MLS IS the most effective way to sell a home, I don't doubt that.. But
with the introduction of discount brokers and alacart real estate
services, I think people should only pay for the services that they
need, rather than pay a potentially huge commission for a listing agent
that may or may not do much work for you as a seller.

"DG" writes:

Good post, REALTOR.

Saying that there are security risks when selling a home yourself is
the same tactic I've seen used in car dealerships when they lowball
women buyers on a trade in: "Oh yea, you could sell it yourself, but
some maniac might follow you home, get your licenese plate, it's
extremely dangerous. For your own personal safety, you should trade
the car into us for $5000 below what you could get for it if you sold
it yourself."

I agree that safety is a scare tactic realtors use, and it's
annoying.

There are a number of ways to make this a non-issue.

Why do I say that "safety" is not a valid reason to list in MLS?

From experience, I can walk into any REALTOR's office, present myself
as a buyer and be viewing the inside of homes in the next 10 minutes
without ever having signed a document or presented ID. Sure, the
realtor has the combo to the lock box.. The same combo that I watched
him unlock the lock box with. That combo is likely to work for most of
the homes of that listing agent.

Counterpoint though: at least here in chicagoland, the mechanical
key combo boxes have gone the way of the dinosaur. The electronic key
access devices have all but taken over and you get a detailed audit
trail of exactly which realtor has accessed the place.

These address many of your (very legititmate) gripes about the static
combination boxes.

Also note that having a lockbox != having a realtor. They are not
mandatory. For isntance, I have listed, but I personally opened the
door for every showing, took the buyers' agents card, and then made
myself scarce.

Q: Don't realtor's "screen" people.
A: Sure, they ask for a prequalification letter from a lender and ask
the potential buyer some questions. I've never had a realtor call to
check my prequalaification letter or ask me for ID.

This is true. However, the Realtor schtick does have merit to it in
that there's at least someone between the buyer and seller who's
challenged the buyer on their price range. This does certainly have
an effect in reducing the percentage of folks going through your home
that have no chance to qualify to purchase it. Of course nothing
will stop a determined person from seeing a house that's for sale
whether it's listed or not though.

Q: Don't realtors make sure that only qualified people make offers on
your home?
A: Sure, see above. Realtors also get earnest money checks from
potential buyers, which are held in escrow. If you're selling a home
yourself, you can do the exact same thing... Tell anyone if they want
to make an offer, they need to deposit escrow money!

Absolutely correct. Escrowed with an attorney usually, at least in
by owner transactions around here.

MLS IS the most effective way to sell a home, I don't doubt
that.. But with the introduction of discount brokers and alacart
real estate services, I think people should only pay for the
services that they need, rather than pay a potentially huge
commission for a listing agent that may or may not do much work for
you as a seller.

Amen to that. Listing agents typically don't do jack **** for teh
commissions they charge, and thank god there are flat fee brokers
entering the market to give sellers the ability to get around that.

Buyers agents having to run all over town showing places to picky ass
buyers--those folks earn their money with their time and expertise.
Listing agents certainly can add value for clue impaired sellers, but
once the sign's out front, it's in MLS, and the flyer is made, there's
very little real work for a listing agent to do. Open houses are one
tool, but getting a listing agent to do more than a couple of those
for you is like pulling teeth. With flat rate brokers, you can do
them yourself!

Best Regards,d
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/