Dealing With Real Estate Agent When Selling

After going through buying & selling too many times, I can always pick up something new to learn about real estate agents, and I would love to share them with you, and hopefully those tips can save you thousands, because I know I could have! The house market is down, it doesn't mean you should lose more than you should!
Here are the tips when dealing with seller agents:

1. Do not believe everything real estate agent says. The reality is, at one point, especially when they feel they want to close the deal quick to get the commission, they will do anything to make you believe the deal is good and must act quick.
2. Do not go with the numbers agent suggests if you are not comfortable with. Do your own research! Again, it's extremely important you are not total depend on the paper works the agents provide, they are somewhat useful, but a lot of times they are not the whole story, they are mostly going to show you the listing comparable that matches the listing price they want you to list, and they are always low! unless you sit next to him/her and do the research together. Must keep in mind that few thousands off are more important to seller, but not buyers. Why? seller will see the extra bucks after the deal is done, but buyer will only see $10 or $20 extra on their monthly mortgage statement. The agents love to play number games with each other, don't fall into their number game strategies. Do your own research please!
3. Do price reduction on existing listing. Your agent will suggest doing price reduction on the brand new listing is more benefit for you because all agents get fresh listings in their mail box therefore more chance to get view! I can tell you now in today's market, doing price reduction on existing listing is more benefit for you! Why? first of all, all buyers love to get good deals, what's consider 'reasonable offering price' in today? about 10% lower than the listing. It's almost the standard figure now. it's almost impossible for buyer to offer the listing price! when they see your price reduction, they know they are already getting the good deals, so when they do their calculation more chances they will not going to offer a ridiculous low numbers. If you have a brand new listing with lower price, there is a good chance your offer will be again 10% less!
4. Always Negotiate the Commission with your agent, or even ask for cash back. Trust me, there are too many agents out there that wants your business. It's way too simple job for them to get that generous commissions. If I could just pay to list my house on MLS, I would had gone for it! About 1% - 1.5% commission reduction is fair in today's market.