If you’ve seen real estate ads at all, there’s a good chance you’ve seen some crazy-good guarantees:
“Home sold within 60 days or I’ll buy it!
“Your house sold in 90 days or I’ll sell it free”
The days and exact offers vary, but they boil down to a practice widely known as “Guaranteed Sale.” You’ve probably seen more of them in the last few years, and you’ll see more as we go on. Why? Because they’re extremely attractive offers. You know they’re too good to be true, but you can’t help at least calling to find out what’s involved.
They are too good to be true. Here’s the low-down on guaranteed sales.
Guaranteed Sale = Conflict of Interest
Most real estate leaders agree that this tactic creates a conflict of interest for the agent. Instead of being focused on getting the best sale for your goals, they’re distracted by turning the situation in their favor. For agreements where the agent will buy your house, they often have the opportunity to turn around and make money off that same house.
Guaranteed Sale = Many Demands
Each Guaranteed Sale program has different requirements, but rest assured that they all have many, many requirements. Some requirements include:
- Buying a home warranty
- Addressing all inspection issues
- Professional staging
- Buying next home with realtor/paying higher commission
- Pricing reduced at regular intervals (after 2 weeks, 8 showings, etc.)
If you don’t want to spend thousands of dollars preparing your home for market, too bad. If you have a seller in talks at 2 weeks, but nothing signed, too bad, the price is going lower anyway. If you don’t meet the demands, the “guaranteed sale” is off the table.
Which leads us to…
Guaranteed Sale = Agent Has All the Power
In this set up, you give over all the control to the agent. They set the terms of the deal and you’re stuck with those once you sign. It’s on you to understand all the fine print and abide by it. You have little to no bargaining power once you’ve signed the contract.
Guaranteed Sale = Marketing Ploy
If a “Guaranteed Sale” program is such a bad deal for sellers, why would anyone agree to it? The truth is that most homeowners don’t agree to the program. Based on the stories we hear and research that’s published, very few people actually sign on for these deals.
But they do talk to the firms and agents that advertise guaranteed sales! And many times they end up listing with those agents, even if they don’t use the “Guaranteed Sale” program.
So the program is mostly a marketing ploy, and it’s one that agents will continue to use, even though it doesn’t bring value to most homeowners.
But what if I HAVE to sell my home quickly?
If you urgently need to sell your home on a certain timeline, you can do that without a demands-laden, agent-driven “guarantee.” At The Home Team, our goal is to represent the needs of our clients. If your need is a quick sale, we’ll work together to create a plan for obtaining that. With a service-based relationship instead of an ironclad contract, we’ll have freedom to evaluate the market and your goals as things change. If we decide to make home improvements or lower the price, you’ll be confident that you’re making a strategic choice to pursue your goals, not unknowingly lining the pockets of a sale-at-all-costs agent.