10 Things Your Real Estate Broker Won't Say

Brokers like to create a lot of mystique about selling homes, insisting that the process is complicated and best left to professionals. Not so, say homeowners who have sold their homes themselves (about 20 to 25 percent do so each year). William Supple, publisher of the sale-byowner real estate magazine Picket Fence Preview and author of How to Sell Your Own Home, says that “properly priced and advertised, a house sells itself.” Supple adds that sellers should plant a yard sign and post online ads for the property on local sites aligned with print publications (call current advertisers to see if a site is effective).

When it comes to the negotiations between buyers and sellers, Supple thinks brokers and their commissions tend to just get in the way. “Usually, the haggling occurs over a 5 to 10 percent difference,” he says. “And that is more or less the broker’s cut of the sale price. You don’t need him.” Just be sure you price your home well. The way most self-sellers hurt themselves, Supple says, is in setting either an unreasonably high or tragically low asking price. “Hire an independent appraiser for $200,” he suggests, “and he will tell you [the parameters of] what to charge.”