“Our key finding is that Realtors do not offset the cost of their commission; they do not get you a higher price,” says Nevo. “Your cost for the Realtor is your full commission.”
The study compared sales via the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), used by Realtors, to those via FSBOMadison.com, used by home owners, where a listing costs $150. With full access to data from both platforms, Nevo and his colleagues found that their raw data confirmed that owner sellers achieved higher prices for their homes. The average premium was 11 percent, or $14,800. That’s on top of the funds that sellers who used Realtors lost in the form of a commission. After accounting for the increase in home prices and market share for FSBO over the period encompassed by their data, the researchers found that the premium decreased to 4 percent, or $3,000, a value that remains statistically significant.
Follow me on Twitter here or get updates via email here.
Are people any good at predicting the selling price of their home?