Finding the right real estate agent is a crucial step in the process of buying or selling a property. However, finding a reliable and competent agent can be a daunting task, especially if you are unfamiliar with the industry. 

Many people make mistakes when hiring agents. They do this based on connections or personal relationships, instead of assessing the agent’s competency and expertise.

This guide provides valuable insights on how to find a real estate agent. We will help you find someone who will meet and exceed your expectations.

Choosing an Agent

Moving Past Guilt and Connections

People often make a mistake when selecting a real estate agent. They choose someone they know, like, or trust, simply because they feel guilty. They might feel compelled to hire a friend, relative, or acquaintance as their agent, even if that person lacks the required skills or experience. 

However, it’s crucial to remember that real estate transactions are significant financial decisions that demand the expertise of a qualified professional.

Finding an Experienced Real Estate Agent

Ensuring a Successful Real Estate Transaction

When it comes to becoming a real estate agent, the requirements are not very demanding. In fact, the training needed to obtain a license is pretty minimal in many places. For example, in Tennessee, agents are only required to complete a short course that lasts about two weeks. This means that many agents enter the industry without having received extensive educational training.

Unfortunately, this lack of education often translates into a lack of practical experience. On average, agents only sell around five and a half houses per year nationwide. This low number reflects the limited exposure and on-the-job learning opportunities that many agents encounter. It’s like a baseball player who finds themselves in the World Series but has only had six chances to bat throughout the entire year. It’s difficult to expect them to perform exceptionally well in such a high-stakes situation.

In the same way, agents with limited sales experience can find it challenging to navigate the complexities of real estate transactions. Buying or selling a property involves intricate processes and negotiations that require a certain level of expertise and skill. Without adequate experience, agents may struggle to provide the best guidance and representation to their clients.

To bridge this skills gap, it’s important for aspiring agents to seek out additional education and practical experience opportunities. Continual learning and professional development can help them better serve their clients and navigate the complexities of the real estate industry. Additionally, clients looking for an agent should consider the level of experience and track record of potential agents before making their decision. Working with an agent who has a solid foundation of knowledge and experience can significantly increase the chances of a successful and smooth real estate transaction.

Benefits of Flat Fee Real Estate Agents

Save Money and Avoid Surprises

If you’re considering selling your home, there are lots of advantages that flat fee full service real estate agents can offer. Here a just a few:

Save Money – $10,000 on average: Flat Fee agents, like the agents at Scout Realty, will list your home for a fair, flat fee while providing a full service experience that includes everything from listing on the MLS to a fully executed marketing strategy that markets and sells your home in the fastest amount of time for the most amount of money. 

Transparency: You know exactly what you’re paying for and the associated costs upfront, avoiding surprises at closing.

Predictability: The set fee remains the same, regardless of the final sales price, providing clarity on expenses.

Experienced Agent: You receive guidance and representation from an experienced agent dedicated to your best interests.

With a flat fee realtor, you can expect transparency, predictability, and the support of a knowledgeable agent throughout the home selling process.

How to Interview a Real Estate Agent

What Questions Do I Ask?

Remember, agents are interviewing for a job with you!

To ensure you choose a real estate agent who is both well-connected and competent, it’s essential to adopt a strategic approach. While connections can be valuable, they should not be the sole basis for your decision. By using effective evaluation methods, you can assess an agent’s competency and determine whether they are the right fit for your needs.

At Scout, we’ve developed valuable resources to help you, like our Seller’s Guide: How to Interview a Real Estate Agent. These interview questions are designed to help you make an informed decision based on the agent’s qualifications and expertise.

When interviewing potential agents, here are just a few of the questions to ask:

1. What sets you apart from other Realtors in the market?
2. How do you determine the appropriate price for a home?
3. Can you provide a written marketing strategy for my property?
4. Are you a full-time real estate agent?
5. How many clients are you currently working with?

Agents should not only have a genuine desire to serve their community but also the required competency to serve their clients well. By using available resources like our interview questions, you can make an informed decision considering the agent’s connections and their ability to meet your real estate needs.

Download our resources, take the time to effectively interview potential agents, and avoid the trap of hiring an agent solely because of guilt or personal relationships.

Remember, this decision will have a significant impact on your real estate experience, so it is crucial to prioritize competence and expertise when choosing a real estate agent.

What is flat fee real estate, and what are the benefits of using a flat fee broker versus a traditional agent? If you’re thinking about selling your home and want to save money on commission fees, read below to learn about this cost-effective alternative to traditional real estate services. In this article, we’ll explain exactly what flat fee is and answer six common questions to help you make an informed decision about your home selling options.

Simply put, flat fee real estate agents charge the same rate, regardless of how much work they do on your behalf. Whether you sell a home for $100,000 or $1,000,000, the fee doesn’t change, and you end up saving a lot of money when it sells. And the even better news? With this type of straightforward pricing, you won’t have any surprise fees when your house sells, and the cost to you remains the same.

6 Common Questions About Flat Fee Real Estate

1. What is Flat Fee Real Estate?

Flat Fee Real Estate is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of paying a traditional real estate agent a percentage of the sales price of your home, you only pay a low, flat fee for their service. In a traditional real estate transaction, you can expect to pay anywhere from 5% – 7% in commission fees when selling a home. However, with Scout Realty, you can list your house for a low, flat fee instead, which allows you to retain more of the equity that you’ve built up in your house.

Scout Realty adopted this strategy in order to shift the real estate experience in favor of the homeowner. By doing so, we are able to provide an unparalleled customer experience, regardless of the price of your home. Whether your home sells for $200,000 or $2,000,000, you still pay the same flat rate. As our founder, Jonathan Harris, explains it, “We’re on a mission to eliminate commission fees. This is how we best serve and create value for our clients.”

2. What are the Benefits of Using a Flat Fee Broker vs. a Traditional Agent?

There are a variety of reasons to sell a home – whether relocating for a job, up or down sizing, or maybe the equity in your home is too good not to capitalize on. Making a profit might not always be the reason you’re selling a home, but one thing is for sure – no one wants to lose the equity that they’ve built up by paying outrageous commission fees. In fact, by selling your home for a flat fee, you’re able to save over $10,000 on average. This is cash that can be used to make a down payment on a new home, or maybe to take that dream vacation you’ve been wanting to take for years.

In order to truly capitalize on the equity you’ve gained in your home, it’s important to understand the difference in how much money you’ll be spending when selling your house with a traditional agent versus a flat fee broker, like Scout Realty. With Scout, we don’t charge a crazy 6% commission fee that most traditional brokers do. We only charge one flat rate when you sell your home. Because a traditional real estate transaction has a standard brokerage fee of 6% on average, the listing agent and the buyer’s agent typically split that commission fee. If a listing agent doesn’t offer the standard rate of 2.5% – 3% commission split, buyers’ agents might refer their clients to other properties, which will slow down the process of your home being sold.

3. How Do Commission Fees Really Work?

 In a traditional home sale, the commission fee is typically around 6% of the final sales price of your home. The commission is split evenly between the listing agent and their broker, which means each party receives roughly 3% of the sales price.

Here’s an example: if your home sells for $500,000 and you agreed to pay your agent and the buyer’s agent a total of 6% percent of the sales price, then you’re automatically out $30,000 in commissions, and can be down over half of YOUR equity! Use our free Instant Savings Calculator to see how much you can save when you sell your home with Scout.

When you choose a flat fee real estate broker like Scout, there’s no need to worry about the crazy overhead of selling your home, regardless of how much a buyer agrees to buy your home for. Instead of worrying, you’ll know BEFORE you go under contract exactly how much you’ll pay to sell your home. There’s no hidden fees or charges – with Scout, it’s one flat fee no matter what.

4. Is Scout Realty Considered a Discount Brokerage?

At Scout Realty, we believe that discounting your cost and discounting your value are two totally different things. We create something that we call ‘Value Innovation’. We’re often asked “how do we create value for people if we don’t charge a full 6%,” or “if we don’t charge 3% on the seller’s side, are we considered a ‘discount brokerage’?”

Our goal at Scout is to:

1. Eliminate or reduce our costs for our clients.

2. Raise or increase the value we provide for them. So, whenever we reduce or eliminate commission fees, this automatically increases the value we have for our customers and provides them the opportunity to retain as much of their home equity as possible.

5. Will My Home Be Listed on the MLS?

An important thing to note is that even when you use a flat fee realtor like Scout Realty, your home will still be listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), so that it can be found just like every other home that’s listed in Nashville. The MLS is the main online directory that real estate agents use to list their properties and share them with other agents that also belong to the local MLS. This is an important thing to note because many third-party services, such as Zillow, Realtor.com, NextDoor, Trulia, etc. pull their listings from the same MLS, so your home will get maximum exposure for only a fraction of the price.

6. Would My Home Sell Faster With a Traditional Broker?

In the month of May, Scout Realty sold our flat fee Nashville listings in an average of 6 days. The average for all other Nashville homes that were sold by other brokerages during the month of May was 12 days. This is great news for anyone looking to move quickly and avoid paying thousands of dollars in commission fees. 

Another thing to note is that when you meet with a traditional real estate agent to discuss the sale of your home, you’ll generally get a presentation on how well they plan to market your home. However, an overwhelming majority of properties are sold by the cooperating MLS agent, rather than a listing agent. So, why would you invest a large portion of your equity in someone who will more than likely lean on another agent to sell your home instead? 

This is where Scout Realty comes in. In our Core listing package, we provide professional photographs listed on the MLS, an open house to generate maximum exposure, a feature in our email blast, organic posts on social media and much more! We offer a fully-integrated marketing strategy for every property that lists with us, designed to help your home sell as quickly as possible. 

With a traditional agent, you’re typically required to pay 6% of your home’s sale price. This can be upwards of $15,000-$20,000 in many markets! On the other hand, Scout agents charge a flat fee for their services and consistently sell homes faster and for more money. If you’re looking to save money on commissions or get more exposure than what is offered by most real estate agencies, then we recommend considering our team at Scout Realty. We have an extensive network of local buyers who are actively seeking homes like yours right now so don’t hesitate any longer. Reach out today!

See what you can save with our Instant Savings Calculator!

Zinga’s Provides Expert Advice with unmatched convenience

Scout Realty provides vetted service provider recommendations for all things home ownership. From buying and selling to repairs and beyond — our Preferred Provider Program connects you to top-notch professionals in your area.

Why we love Zinga’s Blinds: They give expert advice and provide unmatched convenience — THEY EVEN bring the showroom to you! Zinga’s Blinds loves their customers and provides great service with their lifetime warranty, best price guarantee, no-pressure estimates and in-home design consultations.

Interested in a Quote? Fill out the Form Below!

Anyone that has lived in this city for at least 6 months (or has a favorite coffee shop other than Frothy Monkey) has earned the name, “Nashvillian”.

Nashville has always been a melting pot — welcoming people from all over.

And while opportunities are ripe for the picking in this city, some may be asking what the cost is for the local homeowner ready to move across town or down the street? 

The answer: a bidding war.

With flocks of new neighbors fleeing to Nashville from out-of-state, the unintended consequences can leave some sellers temporarily homeless.

First, let’s dig deeper into the problem.

Ask any real estate professional or buyer/seller in the Nashville area, and they’ll tell you that there is a massive deficit in the inventory of homes for sale compared to the number of buyers looking.

It seems that any well-kept home in a desired area will go under contract within a day or two of hitting the market with multiple offers on the table, for over asking price.

I’ve had 3 or 4 buyers this year lose out on homes in multiple offer situations with offers ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 over the asking price.  Homes with 20+ other offers are becoming the new normal.

If you think that’s bad, multiple homes have sold for above $100,000 over asking in certain spots in Williamson Co. One in Brentwood sold for $315,000 over asking. 

Why is this happening? Let’s look at the data.

The average housing budget for out-of-towners moving to Nashville in 2020 was $719,500, which was 48% higher than the $485,500 average budget for local Nashville buyers according to a recent study by Redfin.

That means that these out-of-towners simply have more cash to win highly competitive homes. 

Additionally, 63% of home buyers in Nashville bought sight-unseen, meaning an offer is submitted without ever stepping foot inside the home.

In 2020, more than two-thirds of Nashville homes sold had multiple offers on them in 2020, and a record amount of them sold above asking price.

Ready for the big shocker?

Inventory in January 2021 is at less than half of what it was in 2020 — 3,195 homes available compared to 6,588 in 2020.

Yikes!

If you put yourself in the shoes of someone thinking about selling their home, you start to see their reservations more clearly.

Sellers are not worried about there being enough buyers for their home; they’re worried there won’t be a home that meets their criteria to buy once all is said and done.

No one wants to have to go through the pain of moving twice. They want a smooth transition.

And no one wants to temporarily rent while they look for their next home.

Lack of inventory breeds more lack of inventory — and those brave enough to list their home have to account for losing out on a few multiple offer scenarios simply because of their home-sale contingency (the purchase of a new home is contingent on the old home selling).

In stark contrast, most out-of-state buyers are either:

• • buying in cash
• • waiving contingencies
• • offering a high amount over asking price

And sometimes all of the above. 

This “perfect storm” is undoubtedly multifaceted.

On one hand, the recent 30% property tax hike in Davidson Co. may have caused some locals to want to move to surrounding areas if commuting isn’t an issue and margins are tight.

On the other hand, the societal side-effects of business shut-downs and other strict urban Covid-19 mandates, as well as higher state and city taxes in areas like California, New York, Washington, Chicago, etc. are causing out-of-state buyers to flock to hot real estate markets like Nashville — which also happens to have 0% state income tax.

Plus…hot chicken. We have amazing hot chicken.

With all of this in mind, what can you do to position yourself to win?

Advice #1: Educate yourself on the market, and your criteria before for your next home before you begin the process of selling. Drive the neighborhoods; see how far away it is from your work/school/church, etc. Drive around during rush hour to see if it’ll work for your lifestyle. 

Advice #2: Save as much money as you can when selling your home so you can compete with the multiple offer wars that lay ahead. At Scout, we have a fair fixed fee for people listing their homes. You’ll receive a full-service listing experience that won’t be attached to the value of your home. This allows you to retain your hard-earned equity which in turn, gives you more money to compete with in your next offer. Our average client saves $10,000 when listing with Scout.

Advice #3: Don’t be afraid to talk to a Realtor in advance about different solutions and tactics available for your unique situation. At Scout, our number one goal is to educate you, not sell you. Trust me, you don’t want to jump in this market blindly with just anyone. You’ll want a full tactical strategy mapped out.

Advice #4: Reach out to get signed up for off-market homes coming on the market. If one comes up that’s a perfect fit, you can then consider Scout’s instant cash offer — which can close in as little as 2 weeks. It’s a bold play, but it could be worth it depending on the situation.

When selling a home, you want to sell for the most money in the least amount of time possible.

We get it — you want more money if you’re going to put in extra work to sell your home. So we’ve narrowed down the top 5 (realistic and quick) home improvements that give you the best boost on your home value.

Paint

A new coat of paint will refresh even the most tired home. Neutrals are great to appeal to a wide variety of potential homeowners.
The ultimate goal of painting is for people to see a blank canvas — to envision themselves living their daily lives in each space.

Kitchen Refresh

The kitchen is the heart of the home. Make sure that your kitchen makes a statement by updating light fixtures, knobs, and pulls, or even adding a fresh coat of paint on the cabinets. Any boost you do in the kitchen will help your home stand out from among the crowd.

Updated Bathrooms

Make sure that every bathroom is fresh and clean. Updating the finishes such as faucets, vanities, mirrors, and light fixtures is a great cost-effective way to make the space look and feel more updated.

Floors

Did you know you can rent a carpet cleaner from your local Lowe’s or Home Depot? If you can’t replace your carpet, cleaning them is a great way to make sure that your home is putting its best foot forward — not to mention, potential buyers will immediately notice if your home smells like pets.

Energy-Efficient Features and Windows

Buyers love investing money in a home that saves them money in the long run. Adding energy-efficient features to the home will add to the overall value.