In a letter to the editor to The New York Time earlier this month, Ntional Association of Realtors President Thomas M. Stevens reinforced the message that using a real estate professional to sell a home “more than makes up for the cost, not to mention the savings in time, effort, and hassle.”
The letter was in response to a Jan. 3 article in the Times about the success of a for-sale-by-owner Web site in Madison, Wis., operated by two women out of a spare bedroom. The article stated that the Web site and other models are successfully challenging the traditional real estate brokerage model.
The article “failed to provide your readers an accurate picture of the advantages and disadvantages of going it alone when making the most important transaction of their lifetime,” wrote Stevens, senior vice president of NRT Inc. in Vienna, Va.
Citing NAR research statistics, Stevens wrote that the average home sold with the help of a real estate professional last year brought $230,000 while the average home sold directly by an owner went for 16 percent less at $198,200. “It’s no wonder that the percentage of homes sold by owners actually declined last year despite the real estate boom in most areas of the country,” Stevens wrote.