When you’re selling your home, the goal is clearly to get the most you can for it—not just price, but net proceeds in your pocket.  

With the Atlanta real estate market shifting to more of a buyer’s market and prices lowering in some areas, some sellers are making the choice to sell their home themselves or do an “off-market” sale to save money they’d otherwise pay for in real estate agent fees.  On the surface, that makes sense—pay less to sell your home, and get more money in your pocket.  

But, a study that was released in August 2022 reveals that’s not the case. In fact, homes listed on the MLS with an agent, not only sell faster, but also sell for 13% more, amounting to an additional $45,471 to the seller for the typical home.  

Here are more details about the study:

BrightMLS, assembled a team of experts and conducted a study to determine sale price variances of properties listed on the MLS with an agent to comparable properties that sold without an agent listing it on the MLS between 2019 through the first part of 2022.  

They compared 841,266 sales, both on and off market, over a 39 month period, starting in 2019.

83.4 percent of homes were identified as being listed on the MLS with an agent, the remaining were identified were not listed on the MLS by an agent. 

What’s also interesting is the average days on market for a home listed with an agent on the MLS went under contract three times faster than off-market “office exclusive” homes. 

The findings are clear:  Homes listed with an agent sell faster and for more money, even when accounting for paying a commission.  Use this link to the published study by Bright MLS.

So, why do homes listed with an agent sell for more?  

Many reasons, including agents knowing how to prepare a home for sale to attract the most buyers, agents knowing how to price homes correctly, and also because of the increased exposure to potential buyers.  

As I always say…more eyeballs equals more dollars.  The more people that see a home, whether online or in person, the greater likelihood of a higher sale price.  

Think of what a difference that amount of money could make when you go to buy your next home. 

The truth is selling a home can feel like an expensive process, especially as homes sit longer on the market and not selling with a buyer frenzy driving up the price.  But if it means getting 13% more money for your home, it’s worth every penny.  

If you or anyone you know has been thinking of selling a home, I’d love to help get the very most money possible for it using what I call my formula for a successful sale.  It works no matter what the market is doing to get my clients’ homes sold as quickly as possible for the most money possible, with the least amount of stress to them.  

But there’s one catch.  It does involve a bit of planning ahead to get the best results, so reach out well before you are ready to make a move so we can discuss whether it can help you.