Sell your property by real estate agents, good question, difficult answer.
If the question had been asked in 2000, the answer was simple: of course, in an agency. But since then there has been the Internet revolution, and things are much more complicated.
Statistics
According to statistics in 2018 (National Association of Realtors), sales are made via:
- Internet: 50%
- Real estate agent: 28%
- Yard sign / open house sign: 7%
- Friend, relative or neighbor: 7%
- Home builder or their agent: 5%
- Directly from sellers / Knew the sellers: 2%
- Print newspaper advertisement: 1%
This means that 50% of Internet sales did not exist before 2000. Note that Internet sales only represent 50%, while this value is certainly higher. Indeed, one can think that the real estate agents practically all have an Internet site which offer the goods for sale. Internet sales are therefore probably closer to 80%.
Note that the Print newspaper advertisements are very low, 1%. This is undoubtedly due to the very large presence of real estate agencies on this type of media, which scares away individuals who would like to sell their property.
Finally, the statistical analysis does not say the crossed percentages. Indeed, we rarely watch the same ad in a single media.
Sales by real estate agents
Let’s look specifically at sales by real estate agents. First, they communicate about goods for sale in different ways: advertisements in newspapers, in the Internet media, posters in front of the agency.
On the Internet, they are in competition with other agencies that offer the same property for sale (beware of the different prices for the same property, that is not serious). In the newspapers, we know that few sales take place. Finally, the poster in front of the agency is much more important than we think.
Let’s take the problem differently, say for the buyer. Do you think a buyer decides to buy a property solely for financial or aesthetic reasons? It’s wrong. Sell your property can be a dilemma.
House and surroudings
In reality, the buyer is buying a house and its surroundings. In a significant number of cases, the buyer will want to buy a house that is close to shops, close to the bus stop or the highway to go to work, close to his children’s school. He will therefore choose a house preferably in a certain environment. If he chooses a city that suits him, he will look on the Internet for ads that correspond to this city (which is not always indicated precisely in the ads) then he will go to that city to look for ads in real estate agencies.
For a few years, real estate agencies thought that shops in town were doomed: overpriced rents, the need for frequent human presence in the agency. Internet networks without shops have developed much more. We are now witnessing an upsurge in the attraction of shops in town for much more human relationships and professionalism.
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