Pocket Listings: The Pros and Cons of Selling Your Home in the Santa Monica Off-Market

Typically when people decide to sell their home, they either hire a professional Santa Monica Listing Agent to do the job for them or decide to sell their home themselves, which can be a dangerous decision in some cases. Of course, the choice is up to you.

There is another choice people face these days and that is if you expose your home to the market and sell it “on the market” or confidentially “off the market”.

The most important thing to decide is if you want to have your own Santa Monica Realtor represent you besides the agent bringing the buyer, or do you just want to have an attorney look over the paperwork for an off market sale.

You might just decide to have the same Santa Monica Real Estate Agent who is representing the buyer also represent you. That is called dual-agency. Be sure you are aware of the implications of dual agency and be certain you are well informed of the pros and cons here.

Staying to the topic, one needs to consider the pluses and minuses of “off market” vs. “on the market”. Often when you sell the property off market, you may be able to negotiate a lower commission.

That is not always the case but you can of course ask your Santa Monica Real Estate Agent to negotiate. The other pro of selling off market is that it is done without anyone knowing; there is no for sale sign and there are no open houses. This is great for people who want to have the sale done discretely and confidentially.

If you are the type of person who does not look back and think of what “could’ve” or “should’ve” happened, you are the perfect client to sell off market.

Our Santa Monica Real Estate Agents suggest you don’t look back and don’t worry about what another buyer would’ve paid. As long as this buyer pays “your price”, you are a happy camper. Is this you?

On the other hand, if you’re the type of person who might worry about leaving money on the table, selling “off market” is not the way for you to go. The only way to know you sold your property for top dollar is to expose it to the open market.

There are always several buyers out there who are more motivated than others. One buyer might be highly motivated because his current home is in escrow or because their landlord has given them notice.

These are what we call highly-motivated buyers. How would you know that is the buyer who has come to you if you are only being mildly exposed to the market? You might be receiving an attractive offer on the surface or an offer that matches the price shown on Zillow, but there is no way to know that the price being offered is correct.

Perhaps if the property was on the open market a buyer would be willing to pay more than the appraised value. Who cares what the appraisal is, the most important thing to many people might be getting the highest and best price.

It really comes down to what kind of person you are. Will you have sleepless nights thinking you left money on the table? Then our Santa Monica Realtors advise you not to risk leaving money on the table.

If you are the kind of person who would be happy to move forward after receiving a price you think is fair, selling off market might be the right way to go. Think about it and consult your local Santa Monica Realtor to discuss the pros and cons of each method further.

For further information or feedback, email: ron@ronwynn.com