What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a discount real estate broker?
Typically a discount real estate broker offers fewer services than a full-service broker, but they charge a lot less. This may sound appealing at first, but using a discount real estate broker MAY not be in your best interest. I put MAY in capital letters because there are discount real estate brokers out there who offer full-service listings, they just charge a discounted rate. If you want to learn more about the dangers of using a discount real estate broker, read this article- Full Service Agency vs Limited Service Agency or What They Aren't Telling You About Discount Real Estate Brokers.Now, in order to answer your question, let's talk about the home selling process and what services are offered by full-service brokers and discount brokers.
Pricing Your Home- A full-service broker will come to your house, give you ideas on what you can do to sell your house faster and for more money, and gather the information needed to determine what your home is worth. This is a critical stage in selling your house. Without it, you risk either selling your house for too little or pricing it too high and it never sells. This is a service you won't get with most discount brokers or limited service brokers as they are sometimes referred to.
Advertising - A full-service broker and a discount broker will both list or advertise your home on the multiple listing service (MLS). Probably about 90% of all homes are sold as a result of the MLS. After that, it depends on each brokerage to determine where they advertise your listing.
Manage Showings - A full-service broker will manage all your showings and take calls and provide answers about your listing to potential buyers. A discount broker typically has you take all the calls and manage your showings yourself.
Contracts - When offers come in, a full-service broker will go over the contract with you, answer your questions, and discuss if any counteroffers are needed. This is important to ensure you are protected and that terms are acceptable. A discount broker will typically forward the offer to you and that's it. You are on your own to understand all the clauses and write up any counteroffers.
Deadlines - all contracts have deadlines that both parties are responsible to meet. A full-service brokerage will manage those deadlines for you and ensure you don't breach your contract. A discount brokerage typically has you manage your own deadlines.
These are the main differences in a nutshell. As I mentioned above, there are some discount real estate brokerages that are also full-service. With these brokerages, you get the best of both worlds. You get all the services of a traditional full-service real estate brokerage, but you also get the savings. Utah Home Central is a full-service, discount real estate brokerage. We operate in most Utah counties.