Selling Strategy

Get Your Exposure Up and Your Costs Down …

People ask me, “What's the “perfect” strategy to market my home?” The answer is very simple…. “maximize your home's exposure to as many potential buyers as possible … cover all your bases”. That means getting into the Multiple Listing Service, advertise as a For Sale By Owner, and most importantly, keep your costs down so that when an offer comes in, you'll be able to sell your home without losing most, or even all of your profit, to artificially high sales commissions. At Keenan Realty of Chicagoland, our Program helps you do just that.

It's important to add the Multiple Listing Service to your strategy and stay a “For Sale By Owner.” It's not necessary to give up one for the other … you can do both! There are only 2 types of buyers in the market … one comes to you with an agent, and one looks for you directly as a “For Sale By Owner”. The buyers that come with agents, numbering about 70% of total home shoppers , are often first-time buyers or out-of-area “ relocators ”. Buyers that look for you without an agent are most often local “house changers” and investors. If you're marketing your property as a For Sale By Owner only, you're attracting less than one half of the buyer market. Conversely, if you choose to “list” with an exclusive agent agreement, you're ignoring a full 30% of the potential buyers for your property. That's why it's vitally important that you have the entire market covered, appealing to all types of buyers.

With Keenan Realty of Chicagoland, you're able to accomplish both marketing strategies. You'll “cover all your bases” and create maximum exposure, while saving yourself thousands in listing sales commissions … normally 3% of your sales price. It really is a “no-brainer!” Being listed in the Multiple Listing Service has always been the #1 way to get your house sold. That's why the term “agents protected” is often used by For Sale By Owners to attract buyer agents and their clients. Unfortunately, the public has rarely had the option of marketing their property on their own and being listed with an agent at the same time. Traditional agencies normally prohibit this type of relationship, (called an open listing) with their “broker rules”. We've eliminated those rules, allowing you an open listing and a profitable, innovative and proven way to sell your home.

Agents Often Hesitate To Show ”For Sale By Owner” Listings To Their Buyers …

In searching for homes to show their clients, real estate agents go first to the Multiple Listing Service, (MLS), and pull listings matching the criteria their buyers have given them. There are generally so many properties on the MLS that agents simply have no reason to look through the local newspaper or drive the neighborhoods to see if there are any For Sale By Owner homes to show. The plain truth is clients almost always find a home to buy from the MLS listed properties presented by their agents… there's just no need to look at other properties.

Besides, it's often too difficult to show For Sale by Owner properties and doing so can threaten the commission the agent expects to earn in selling a home to their client. For example, when an agent is out visiting homes with their client, they may run across a home For Sale By Owner that the client asks to see. As often as not however, the owner isn't home, and although messages are left, the client's interest moves on to other properties. The agent has little reason to refocus them and the For Sale by Owner home is never seen.

Another significant “problem” often faced by agents when attempting to show a For Sale By Owner home is their legal relationship with their own client. Because it can be an uncomfortable conversation, agents often don't ask their clients to sign a Buyer's Agency Agreement, wherein they will be paid no matter what house their client chooses. They're afraid their client, who has no direct legal obligation to pay a commission in a For Sale by Owner transaction, will simply go behind their back, buy the FSBO house and cut them out of their commission. They much prefer to avoid the problem entirely by limiting their client showings to MLS listed properties where they know they'll be paid.

To deal with this fear, For Sale By Owners often offer an “agents protected” commission guarantee. However, it just doesn't work as well as listing your home in the MLS. Again, with the MLS, an agent knows they're going to get paid because the listing agent has a binding agreement with the seller wherein the commission is set and a process for showing the property has been established … it's just the best way to sell a home.

Here's The Bottom Line …

In today's market, the MLS still holds the power to get a home sold. It's possible that this power will fade in the future with the Internet and other technologies for matching buyers and sellers becoming available to the public. We're already seeing this shift begin, but for now, the bottom line is…. as long as buyer's agents who only search the MLS to find homes are successful, the MLS will reign supreme as the best search tool for anyone purchasing a home, and the best exposure tool for anyone selling a home.

We hope that we're able to help you sell your home as a For Sale By Owner. However, to be “seriously” on the market, we know you'll need the MLS and all of its Internet exposure incorporated into your marketing strategy. Thanks for letting me share my thoughts on the real estate industry with you. We look forward to working with you to market your home as a client of Keenan Realty of Chicagoland!

Brian Keenan, President/Managing Broker