Why do so many people in the Bay Area prefer to list their homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) rather than sell their home privately, quietly, off-market? The reason that listing your Bay Area home for sale on the MLS and going on the open market is so popular is that it is the time tested and proven method of getting the absolute highest price for your property.
However, for many sellers, getting the highest possible price for their property isn’t the most important factor. Many sellers simply want a quick, easy, and certain sale, which is far from guaranteed when selling on the open market, using the MLS. They want to have a buyer in place, with terms and a price agreed upon, before they even start the process of moving out of their house. And they don’t want any contingencies or uncertainty with the deal on the part of the buyer either. They want a solid deal they can make firm plans around with an absolutely minimal chance of the deal falling apart.
And for Bay Area homeowners who are like that – and there are a lot of homeowners like that – the MLS may not be the best option, especially when the seller does not need or want to get every single dollar out of the house when they sell it.
Other sellers may simply refuse to give up their privacy. They might not want their neighbors to know the house is on the market. They might not want other family members to know it’s up for sale. They might not want open houses and showings with people they don’t know coming through their home. Listen, there are a variety of reasons why people dislike the idea of listing their Bay Area home for sale on the open market, and they’re willing to give up some of their potential sale price in exchange for the greater control, privacy, and flexibility that an off-market sale provides.
Of course, the big question is how much money you’d lose if you sold off-market instead of listing it on the MLS and going fully on the market. Unfortunately, there is no clear answer – because we can’t say how much more your home would sell for on the open market on the MLS. That’s because listing your home for sale on the open market is not a magic bullet that’s going to guarantee a specific and higher “market price.”
However, I do want to point out that your home will almost certainly sell for more on the MLS than it would off market because you will have much more exposure. You’re going to open your home up to the maximum amount of competition from all potential buyers who are out there versus one buyer, or two buyers, or three buyers, or even a few dozen buyers, such as I might have for you through Bay Area buyers.com is just for that fact alone that you will have that heightened competition that you know you are going to get a higher sale price.
It’s just basic economics. It’s a matter of supply and demand. When there is a greater demand for your property from the buying public, you will receive a higher offer price. Nonetheless, when you work with my network of Bay Area home buyers, I will do my best to get you the best off-market price possible. Our goal is to bring you a variety of offers – abeit from a smaller subset of buyers than if you were on the open market.
But those buyers will be aware that they do have some potential competition and will offer you more if they believe they are the only offer in town. If this sounds interesting to you, please fill out this form on on this web page and let’s get moving!