If you’re looking to sell your house or investment property in Nashville without using a real estate agent, we can help.
Although we do cooperate with brokers, sometimes it’s best to avoid paying someone to be in the middle. We absolutely do have a very qualified agent on staff that knows the ins and outs of retail home sales, but this post is specifically to help you to sell your house without an agent.
After all, paying 5-6% of the sale of a property in a commission is a lot of money. In certain situations, Tennessee brokers and real estate agents can be very useful and earn their commission. Not to knock the industry, but the truth is that getting a real estate license isn’t difficult. The low barrier to entry has resulted in a flood of agents-many of whom lack the experience or competence needed to guide people through what is often the single biggest financial decision of their lives.
How Do I Sell My House Without An Agent in Nashville?
There are a few ways to avoid paying high commissions in your Tennessee home sale.
First, there’s a tricky custom that you have to know about.
In most sales in Nashville, roughly half of the commission you pay as the seller goes to pay for the buyer’s broker.
Doesn’t make much sense, right?
Why should you pay for the agent on the other side of the table?
Truthfully, it defies logic – it’s just what’s typically done.
You can use that to your advantage in a few ways.
First, factor in the commissions paid when you’re looking at the comparable sales. If the properties similar to yours sold for prices that included commissions, take that into account.
Didn’t the big lawsuit recently change all that???
In many ways, the lawsuit didn’t actually change much when it comes to buyer commissions. The main shift is that listing agents can no longer openly advertise buyer-agent commissions on the MLS. The idea is that this would make those commissions more negotiable….but in practice, we haven’t seen much change. The same standard commission structures still seem to apply; they’re just no longer displayed publicly.
Don’t underprice your property – be aware that a savvy buyer may expect to take a discount too. If you’re doing the work of one agent, you can expect to save that money.
Sometimes in Nashville, buyers who aren’t represented by an agent won’t remember to negotiate the buyer’s side commission out of the price for themselves, so don’t remind them if you don’t want to pay them. Just don’t be surprised if it comes up during the negotiation.
You may want to consider offering 3% to buyer’s agents who will bring their clients to show your property. Sure, it’s a lot of money. If you’re pricing your property including that commission, you can always negotiate a better deal for a purchaser who comes without an agent.
On the other hand, if you don’t leave room for the buyer’s agent’s commission, you’ll be excluding most of the buyers in the market in Nashville.
On that note…..
Don’t overprice your property!
Overpricing your property can actually hurt your chances of selling. When a home is listed above market value, it can sit on the market too long, making buyers wonder if something is wrong with it. The longer it stays unsold, the more likely you’ll need to drop the price…often below what it could have sold for if priced correctly from the start. Overpricing also means you might miss out on serious buyers who never even see your home in their search filters. In short, pricing too high can cost you time, money, and opportunity.
Guess what…..we take all the GUESSING out of this equation and give you a fair cash offer!
Over 90% of transactions happen through the MLS – that’s the Multiple Listing Service. It’s the main database that all the brokers in Nashville use to access information for their clients on the houses, condos, land and investment properties for sale, along with data on the sold prices.
Once upon a time, you had to pay a full commission to get your property on the MLS. Now in Nashville, there are a few brokers who will charge you a fee just to list your property on the MLS. Often, you spend a few hundred bucks and you only pay a commission if the sale closes.
So many real estate agents get mad at these so called “discount brokers” and say they don’t add much value and are hurting the industry, but in reality they are just upset that someone is doing the same thing just for less. It hurts their crazy commissions they charge!
Compared to the cost of a newspaper ad, the MLS is a cheap way to market your property to a very wide audience.
All the major real estate search sites like Realtor.com, Zillow, Yahoo Homes, etc. get data from the MLS. Chances are good that when you submit your listing in Nashville to the MLS, information on your property will end up on most of the major sites within a few days.
Each of those sites sells ads. They’ve got packages that let you pay to enhance your listing, feature it at the top of the search, and a lot of other bells and whistles that might or might not get an interested buyer to buy your property.
Advertising is a gamble. Sometimes open houses in Nashville Tennessee can be a great way to sell a property, and sometimes they’re a waste of time. Same with newspaper ads, craigslist postings, fancy signs – sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t.
To effectively sell your property on your own, you have to market it well.
Putting up flyers and signs around your neighborhood can generate some interest, and there are plenty of free websites where you can post your property. But the reality is, if your house doesn’t appeal to the average homebuyer, flyers and an open house alone usually won’t cut it.
In theory, real estate agents justify their high commissions by covering upfront marketing costs. By advertising multiple listings at once, they aim to generate more calls and ideally close more deals to turn a profit.
That said, some properties require thousands of dollars in marketing before the right buyer even sees the ad and reaches out. Not every property sells quickly, and the cost to reach the right audience can add up fast.
Selling a property on your own to the retail market can be daunting…
Selling a house on your own without a real estate agent can be surprisingly difficult and time-consuming. From setting the right price and marketing the property effectively to handling showings, negotiations, and legal paperwork, every step requires expertise. Without access to professional networks, market data, or negotiation experience, it’s easy to make costly mistakes or leave money on the table. Many homeowners find the process overwhelming and stressful, especially when juggling their normal responsibilities at the same time.
You can still sell your house on your own. There’s a way! Keep reading……
If you want to avoid paying any commissions, you can also sell your house to us for CASH
We fair prices for properties – and we can close fast (in as little as 5-7 days if you need to).
Sometimes we’ll purchase Nashville houses, fix them up, then rent them out… sometimes we’ll fix them up and sell them to other people looking for great homes in the area, and a lot of other reasons, too – but we love to hear from people like you who are thinking of selling anywhere in Tennessee.
We’re investors who care a lot about Nashville.
We close fast and pay cash in as little as just 5-7 days. Give us a call now at (270) 226-9000 or fill out the short form over here.