Table of contents
This contribution is an overview of everything you need to know when selling a house. Especially if you are a Yup.
So grab your latte macchiato a coffee. Sit down. In the next 20 minutes, you will learn more than in any Google attempt on a lost Saturday. The reason for this? Reliable info is scarce because everyone wants to profit from you by withholding information.
About me then. I am Antoine. I founded Mijn Verkoopmakelaar. The purpose of the website is that you select your real estate agent with a bit more attention. After the sale, you tell precisely how the real estate agent did. If the respective real estate agent has fulfilled his promise, or better, exceeded it, then the real estate agent has a better chance of getting the next assignment.
In this way, real estate agents who do work hard get more assignments. And the real estate agents who make a mess of it end up without work.
Enough advertising. By doing this, I have seen the house selling process hundreds of times. It's a shame not to share what I have learned with my peers.
What I will not discuss is how to buy a property. That will come another time. I assume you have already bought a house, or are moving abroad, or returning to your parents. What you are about to read is useful if all of that is behind you, and your sole goal is to sell your old house for the highest price.
First of all, compliments from the chef: well done if you are going to sell your house. I estimate that you bought your property about 5 years ago. Then you are exactly that one group that managed it and did not miss the bus. Chapeau.
The parts of selling your house:
Below we go through the entire process chronologically. The piece is divided into the following steps:
- Finding out which real estate agent to choose
- Making your house tip-top for sale
- Viewings
- Purchase contracts and notaries
- Counting your money
1. Choosing a real estate agent
Ok, the prejudices: real estate agents are money-grabbers, they earn easy money, they add nothing, and they are unreliable. The goal is to minimize the chance of ending up with such a real estate agent. Below you read how to do that.
How does a real estate agent help in selling a house?
In my experience, a real estate agent does only 3 things. At least a good one.
- Increase the proceeds
By just presenting the property a bit smarter and cleverly handling bids and negotiations, your property often yields a bit more than if you did it yourself. And then the real estate agent costs. - Take care of all the process tasks
Part of the work is very operational: creating a text for funda, guiding viewings, and drafting contracts. These are all things you can do yourself with a little effort, but you can also outsource them. - Limit some risks
In some cases, you face a number of risks as a seller. A sharp real estate agent prevents those. Think of preparing the HOA or choosing a buyer who is in no way going to get the financing sorted.
If, in that last case, you think, 'Never mind, I still have other offers'. Then I wish you success with that negotiation. Because a property that goes 'back' on sale seems radioactive to buyers and doesn't fetch what it would on funda in one go.
Alternatives to a real estate agent
If you have time to spare and think you can do it better yourself, then maybe you should do it without a real estate agent.
Note that, as a consumer, you cannot get your house on funda. Only real estate agents can do that. If you want to sell your house yourself and still be on funda, choose an online real estate agent:
That certainly saves costs. Whether it also saves proceeds depends on how well you do it.
Making a shortlist of real estate agents
For now, let's assume you prefer to have a real estate agent by your side during the sale. Most sellers have 3-4 real estate agents visit their house before they make a choice. From all these real estate agents, they then hear about the costs, the approach, and the expected proceeds. Then they choose a real estate agent.
Before we discuss the final choice, let's first discuss how to get to that shortlist of 4 real estate agents.
- The number of sales by the real estate agents
- Local presence
- The costs
- Industry organizations
The number of sales
The number of sales by a real estate agent is an indicator you can use. You can, for example, see on the real estate agent's page on funda how many properties a real estate agent has sold in the past 12 months.
While researching, keep in mind the number of real estate agents working at those offices. At some offices, 12 people are selling 8 houses, and other real estate agencies sell 6 homes per month with 2 employees. Advice from the experienced (moi): don't focus solely on the number of sales. Alibaba sells more iPhone chargers than Apple. I rest my case.
Local presence
Another criterion is how local a real estate agent is:
- Is the real estate agent located nearby?
- Does he have a lot of activities in your neighborhood (purchase, sale, appraisals)?
Apart from knowing the risks with the properties (leaks, leasehold, HOAs) a bit better, he can refer unsuccessful bidders from his other sales to your house. That will help you with the selling speed and/or proceeds.
Costs, fee or commission
Super stupid, but real estate agents almost never publish their fee. That's because real estate agents determine their fee per property.
They themselves say that is because not every property requires the same effort. But the reality is they are just good salespeople and will determine the fee based on your reaction to their proposal.
To find out the fee of a real estate agent, you really have to invite them home. You won't find out by calling.