Working with a Realtor Pays Off

Of all the findings of a recent survey of Florida home buyers and sellers, here's one you can count on: Sixtyseven percent of sellers relied on a real estate professional to sell their home, while 29 percent chose to go it alone, according to researchers at the National Association of Realtors.

The study also found that working with a Realtor pays off for sellers. Those who chose to sell their home on their own usually sold at a price that was about $45,000 less than they would have received if they used a real estate professional. To derive this figure, researchers at the National Association of Realtors (NAR) compared the median price of a FSBO ($210,000) to the median price of a home listed by a real estate professional ($255,000).

"The Florida 2005 profile of home buyers and sellers" a study conducted on behalf of the Florida Association of Realtors by NAR in tandem with its national study on buyers and sellers. The report looked at the characteristics of homebuyers in Florida as well as the steps they took to find a home. It also focused on buyers' views of licensee representation and how they financed the purchase. For home sellers, the study dug deeper into the process for those represented by a licensee, but it also looked at FSBO (for sale by owner) sellers to find out more about their reasons and methods.