Alex Travis, CRS began her real estate career as a Rookie of the Year in 1982 and hasn't slowed down since. She is a member of The Dozen, the nation's top 4% of real estate performers, and a member of the Platinum Circle and International President's Circle with Coldwell Banker/Paula Stringer, REALTORS^® in Dallas, Texas. One of Travis' strengths as an agent is her listing presentations in which she offers the seller valid reasons why listing with a REALTOR^®, and her in particular are good marketing strategies.

According to Travis, Dallas is currently enjoying one of the strongest seller's markets in decades. When the real estate market is very good in one area or another, some buyers or sellers assume they can do without the services of a Realtor. In a buyer's market, buyers have their pick of open houses and can negotiate the price down easily all by themselves, they believe. Conversely, in a seller's market, sellers often believe that a ready buyer will beat a path to their door within a week of putting a sign in the yard. Listings become harder to get as a result as many homes are then sold through the network before they are even put into the MLS, or sellers choose to market the home themselves, believing that buyers are not as picky when homes are scarce.

As we in the industry know, there are numerous problems that can occur between the time a home is put on the market and the time it closes.

When Travis is working with homeowners who are on the fence about whether to list with an agent or sell the home themselves, she has a secret weapon that she uses. She asks them seven pertinent questions and has her rejoinders ready.

You can take advantage of these questions in your next listing presentation when the question comes up, "Why shouldn't I just sell this home myself?"

1. Do you really know what your property is worth in today's market? Will you price it too high and discourage potential buyers or too low and lose part of your equity?

Real estate prices are never fixed. The same home can be worth thousands more or less within the same month in volatile markets. What the homeowner paid originally for the home is not relevant to the list price, only what the current market will bear. The orginal price is only important to determine the equity position, if the homeowner can in fact afford to sell the home.

Nobody, even the most bargain hunting buyer wants to work with an unreasonable seller and the quickest tip-off that a seller is unreasonable is pricing the home too high. The opposite can happen, too. Sometimes for a quick sale, or because the home was purchased so long ago that today's prices seem extravagant, a homeowner will price a home too low. A good agent can evaluate the seller's position and find other ways to create the conditions for a quick sale besides leaving equity on the table.

2. Can you show other houses as comparables?

Do you have a comparable analysis of the area? Even if you have printed comparables, the information isn't enough. There is always pertinent information missing from CMA's. Having a comparable analysis of homes in the area isn't enough. The buyer will want to see other homes in the area in order to properly evaluate your home. If you aren't paying an agent commission, who is going to show the homes to the buyer? And if the buyer has an agent showing them homes, how do you know how yours is comparing?

3. Are you available to prospects on a full time basis until the house is sold?

Most homeowners work at another profession and find it impossible to show the home except on weekends or after dark. Many buyers can't or won't have the patience to wait to see a home - they are too afraid someone else will come in and write a contract. They want to look at homes they can view and write contracts on without waiting.

And where does the homeowner obtain potential buyers? Can you prospect for homebuyers during the day? If you are going to sell your home you will need to. Only 50% of buyers use the newspaper to buy a home - how can you be sure your buyer saw your ad? Over 82% of buyers use a Realtor. Can you network with real estate agents to find a buyer for your home? You will have to cold call every Realtor in your area to tell them about your home, a time consuming task unless you are an agent and have the home listed. That is the purpose of the MLS - it is the Realtor's message board on what homes are for sale.

Can you leave work to show a home to a potential buyer? Are you available to stop what you are doing to take calls about your property? Will your boss understand that you have another full-time job - selling your home? If the answer to these questions is no, you need an agent who does work full-time on your behalf to market your home and bring it to closing.

Do you want to host an open house every weekend until your home is sold? 39 percent of homebuyers attend open houses.

You will want to put a sign in the yard because 38 percent of buyers look at homes with yard signs.

And what about online services? Few online companies carry FSBO listings - but 18 percent of home buyers look for homes on the Internet. Where do they go? Where they can look at an abundance of homes - Realtor.com and other sites with hundreds of thousands of listings plus search criteria to make finding a home easy. Do you have that at your disposal?

4. Can you answer objections and criticism without getting emotionally involved and upset?

The chances of finding a buyer with the same tastes and appreciation for your home as you have are slim to none. You can bet that the first words out of a buyer's mouth is what they would change if the house were theirs. That wood-paneling in the den that you think is so handsome may strike a Gen-X home buyer as dark and outdated-looking. Flooring, paint colors and decorative accents you have chosen may provoke titters. Your dog is your best friend, but can you be objective about the way the carpet may smell because of his accidents, fur, and muddy paws? And willing to do something about it? What about those numerous small repairs you always meant to do? The buyer will find the cabinet door that sticks, the rattling lock, the missing window screen and the broken tile in the bathroom quicker than you can say Jack Rabbit.

And the buyer will draw every one of these items to your attention, criticizing and discounting the home you love before your very eyes. Can you keep smiling?

The Realtor can absorb a lot of the electrical charge between a buyer and a seller. The seller will always see his/her home in its most favorable, and even unrealistic, light. A buyer typically will judge flaws more harshly than a seller, leaving plenty of room for a gap to widen in negotiations. The seller wants the most money for the home, and the buyer wants the most home for the money. A Realtor can get the two to meet in the middle.

5. Can you call a prospect back without placing yourself in a poor bargaining position?

Do you know what to say, what not to say, and what questions to ask? How do you know this is a qualified buyer and not someone who simply wants to gain entry to your home? How much should you reveal? Do you know how to qualify a buyer? How to negotiate?

6. Are you familiar with all the financing possibilities to guarantee the sale? Do you have the sources of financing?

In a perfect world, the buyer will come to table with cash in hand for the house. But the reality is that the buyer will require some kind of financing. Do you know where to send them? Do you know whether to send them to a direct lender or a mortgage broker and why? What kind of credit do they have? Can they afford the home? How can you prevent tying up your home in a contract with someone who can't afford the home, wasting precious marketing time and perhaps losing the interest of other more qualified buyers?

7. Do you really have time to handle all the details?

The seller must handle repairs, the presentation of the home, paperwork, negotiations, other interested buyers, plus shopping for a home and and moving preparations all at the same time.

Selling a home involves a great deal of preparation and evaluation and that is just to arrive at a marketing plan. Sometimes this can involve making repairs on the home, staging the home, preparing for an open house, and even choosing the right moment to place the home on the market. Then you must handle advertising to attract the buyer. What works - what doesn't work?

The seller must become expert in real estate contracts and their legal responsibilities. Do you know your liabilities? Are you familiar with diclosure? Are you confident that you know enough about the real estate transaction to follow through without professional advice?

Then when a buyer is interested, the seller may have to show the home multiple times before a contract is signed. In the meanwhile, numerous discussions will ensue which change the negotiations constantly. Do you know how to move a sale along when it is stalled in negotiations? Do you know when to walk away?

Since the buyer and seller are presumably saving money on a Realtor's commission, the seller will have to perform the Realtor's job and provide the services a Realtor would provide for both the buyer and seller. Is that what you want to do?

Travis says, "It is tougher than you think to do it yourself."

And as the final point, Travis quotes an industry survey that houses sold by agents bring an average of 91/2% more than similar owner sold homes, more than paying for the commission and with a little left over.

Travis states the obvious - owners who use an agent net more money, more time and more piece of mind.

Published: October 14, 1998

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Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. For more articles by Blanche, click here.