About Sellfor1percent
In business since 1998, the Sell for 1 Percent concept started in 2018 as we looked for ways to attract For Sale by Owners. We first started with the “Flat fee” model where a home seller pays a flat fee (normally around $1000) to gain access to the local MLS but in that model the seller is responsible for taking the photos, scheduling the showings, negotiating the contracts and handling the closing. What we found through this process was sellers were not against paying a commission to handle the process of the sale of their home, they were against paying outrageously high commissions and giving away their equity to some real estate agent and so the Sell for 1 Percent concept was born.
Since starting in real estate back in 1998 many things have changed especially the values of homes and technology. In 1998 the medium home sale price in Columbus was $121,700. Since then, the average home sale price in Columbus has risen to more than $300,000 but commissions have remained the same at 6%.
In 1998 the biggest thing in cell phones was the Nextel phone which offered cell phones with a walkie talkie feature that didn’t cost you anything to use. . . The blackberry had not yet been released and the first iPhone didn’t come until 2007. The best TV you could buy to watch the Super Bowl was a Sony 34 inch vacuum-tube set that cost $8000, or over $13,000 in today’s money adjusted for inflation.
In real estate if you wanted to go look for a house you called us and we brought you a telephone sized MLS book that you sifted through. We shot photos of the house’s we were selling with 35mm cameras, took the film over to the local camera shop and then scanned and uploaded the photos to the MLS using high speed 56.6 modems that squawked like a wounded duck when going on line, LOL!
Things have changed a lot in technology since 1998 making our lives as Realtors so much easier. The internet has evolved, the widespread use of email, web sites to search for homes, electronic camera’s, graphic software, 24 hour showing services, electronic signatures and so much more. . . What hasn’t changed? Commissions, agents still want to charge you 6%. . .
This all lead to the question for us, with all of this technology were we working more or less than we were in 1998 to sell a house? So we started keeping track of time, we kept track of and detailed the actual number of labor hours it took us to go from start to finish and all points in between to list and sell your house. Much like an attorney does, we kept track of everything it takes to sell a house and our results were stunning. On average it only took us between 6 and 7 hours to sell a home, to do everything from start to finish, everything we normally have done to sell a house since getting into the business in 1998 and our result, it takes less than 7 hours of time to sell a house.
So then that got us to thinking about the numbers, if the average home in Columbus sells for more than $300,000 and the 1% commission on that is $3000, and we know it takes us less than 7 hours to sell a house then we know we are making over $400 an hour. . . Now I don’t know about you but that’s a pretty good living by any standard! What we don’t believe is it is worth $1200 an hour which is what a traditional real estate agent wants to charge you, but hey if they’re your best friend or a family member maybe it is. . .
The whole idea is to provide you with more service for less commission. We want to provide you with more service than you could ever expect from any traditional real estate agent for a fair commission.
HER✈️RE/MAX
iHome, REALTORS®
