Listing with KW vs Redfin

[Kumar Gaurav]

Hi

I just wanted to hear advantages/disadvantages of listing a property to sell with Redfin Vs A traditional agent such as KW.

Thanks

[Irene Nash]

It completely depends on what the agent will do for you in terms of helping to increase the market value of what you are selling BEFORE it goes on the market, and also in terms of doing an accurate market analysis so that you are priced at the sweet spot.

IMO this includes:

- Consultation beforehand to determine what projects are or aren't going to make a significant difference in your sale price.

- Nearly always (unless your home is like a staged new construction model home) staging - meaning even if you have your own items in the home, usually moving things around, removing some, replacing others with rental items if the original items make the rooms look too small or dated, adding/replacing decor and art work, making sure flow and decor maximize space and positive features, repainting walls if the paint color is lowering appeal.

- Same concept for outside.

- Professional grade photos.

- Pricing that takes into account your home's unique features, which could mean going higher or lower than just lumping it in with the mix of comps that appear to be similar.

This is agent specific and not necessarily related to a specific company, I see high end 'premier' listings poorly marketed by mainstream traditional companies sometimes and some 'budget' agencies where the agent just did a great job with this stuff. 

You're less likely to get a 'discount' with that level of service but in my experience it can increase the market value of the home by 10's of thousands compared to not doing it.

Just a heads up that not all stagers are good, some are excellent but some get caught up in staging and over-stage with too much clutter and furniture items that make rooms looks small.

Look at an agent's previous listing photos because ultimately they are the ones who work with a lot of buyers too and should know how to handle listing prep so that it appeals to buyers (aka staged for SALE). Or they might do it themselves like we do, the point is the proof is in the pics.

And also in having a history of reasonable market times and not consistently having to do price reductions (which would indicate a tendency to overprice.) Good luck.