You might have seen my rant last month about wholesale buyers. These are the people who promise that they have a buyer for your house, cash, and that they will manage the sale for just 1% commission.

In my video, which you can see here, I broke down how one couple paid effectively 9.4% to sell their house.

Don’t get me started…

I’m looking for more examples of this as I am very concerned that people are not only losing their money, but they are opening themselves up to possible future lawsuits because they did not have a realtor to protect their interests.

There are really two types of deals that are lumped in to the term “ibuyers”. The first, covered above, are the companies that buy wholesale with the promise of lower commissions, usually leaving sellers without somebody to protect their interests.

The other type is commonly referred to as “al la carte” websites. Imagine AutoTrader, but for people selling their homes. It’s a different concept. Rather than you selling (unrepresented) to a buyer through their buyer’s agent at a lower commission, these sites are kind of do-it-yourself home sales.

What they promise is that you will pay only a flat, low commission. What you get may be something else entirely.

Before I get in to it, I want to say that ibuyer sites may not be the worst thing in the world if you are selling a home under $200,000 and you’ve been educated about the most important legal aspects of buying and selling a home.

Heck, if I thought I could create a website where I could also empower you while you sell your house, I’d be tempted to make it.

Regardless, if it meets your interests and you are sure you have the knowledge to do it right, go for it.

But, for now, there are important things to keep in mind.

• What are you being charged? According to our broker, sometimes commissions from 6% to 13% can be added, as we saw above with wholesalers. Read the fine print! Here’s a summary from our broker.

• Does the ibuyer website give you important information about disclosures, your liability and your responsibility. From what I’ve seen so far, they kind of just throw the paperwork at you and say “here are some basic instructions, go at it!” On one site I saw, it just instructed you do meet federal fair housing guidelines. Well, do you know about the six protected classes and how to make certain you are not discriminating against any of them?

• Is the valuation correct? What process does the ibuying site use to value your house? Can you set your own price? Licensed realtors are trained to do comparative market analysis and take in to account local expertise, which algorithms don’t necessarily pick up.

• What services do you think you are getting and how much will it cost to get better service? The range of services goes from just listing your property with no other service, to getting you to pay for add-ons, such as photography, signage and (probably computer-driven) marketing. What will it cost if you decide that you can’t do it all yourself?

• What do you know about the agent you are assigned and how much time does he or she have for you? You will be assigned to an agent, who is probably sitting behind a desk, getting paid a lower wage and helping 20 clients all at once. At the rates the charge, the only way to make a living is through volume, which means your needs matter less. It’s kinda like those 5-minute doctor visits we all love so much. Nope! No more time for you!

• Who will have your back if you are up against a more experienced agent? Just because you are assigned an agent on the seller’s side, does not mean you can match the experience or knowledge of the agent on the other side. Some services are so trimmed down that you do all your own negotiating. Even if that over-worked agent can negotiate on your behalf, do you think he or she will really fight hard when there are so many other clients to get through in a day?

• Does the agent assigned to you have knowledge of your local market? This is a huge deal, especially in historic neighborhoods and dense urban areas. I don’t care how crafty a computer algorithm is, it probably does now know the word on the street about that big development coming in at the end of your street, etc.

What is missing in all of this is the personal connection with an agent who specializes in an area or type of home and who will spend time with you –not just some limited instructions.

Just beware. You get what you pay for.

If you have experiences with wholesalers or a la carte sites, and you are willing to share, please let give us a call at 602-456-9388.