Villages Sales vs. Realtor
 

Looking to list our house for sale in Fernandina. Has anyone used The Villages realtor to sell house and if so why? Villages wants 6% vs. 5% for outside realtor. Any suggestions would be helpful.

I would use The Villages. I think they are more professional. The outside agents don't even respect The Villages rules for sign size and location. I had a neighbor who was charged $300 because she cancelled her listing with an outside agent who was doing a lousy job. Whoever you hire, I would get a written agreement stating specifically what they will do to market the house, and that you can cancel the listing if you lose confidence in them. Also, I would only provide a 90 day listing.

If it is all about price you can get a MLS listing for 2.5% or do a FSBO at no cost.

Realistically service at 5 or 6% is identical.

Interview at least one of each type and see how they would market your house

I listed my house with an outside realtor because he was the person I bought it from. It was on the market for almost 50 days and had two offers fall through. I switched to The Villages and the agent recommended I raise the price a bit. She quickly scheduled a caravan and it sold in a week. I think TV agents have a wider reach and more buyers contact them first.

I would list with an MLS agent. The Villages charges 6% and will definitely charge you for all of their advertising if you decide to cancel your contract. You will have more exposure with an MLS agent I recommend Katy Kelly from RE/MAX Premier Realty

352-355-7982

We listed on Zillow for free and sold. Saved $25,000 dollars in fees.

I would personally never again use a Villages realtor to sell a pre-owned home. To buy a new home, yes. But not to sell one.

I have personal knowledge of using them twice. The first time to help out my parents who wanted to sell their house in 2002 so they could move closer to me. In over a year, they had no one even come to the house to see it. We ended up moving here then to be close to them. In 2019, I tried them again, thinking things had changed and they were more amenable to selling previously owned Villages home. No. Again, no one came.

Also, the contract insists they can not have any online presence, unless it is on the Villages page. The majority of the people outside of this area are searching Zillow, Realtor.com,. Trulia. In order to sell you need online exposure. I paid the fine to get out of my contract and got a realtor who was not associated with the Villages but has sold a lot of Villages home. I had people looking constantly every week and she sold that house within a couple of months.

Use an outside realty, would not use TV. Also interview the realtor when you make your decision. I had better results outside TV

I recently listed and sold my house with an outside realtor. I used Executive Realty, Amanda Fincher who exceeded all my expectations! Expensive drone videos online all across the country. Scheduled open houses. She came well prepared with recent comparables. Also,I think if they sell your house, they work with reducing your listing fee. The house was sold by ReMax. It sold in six days for far more than I expected. I wanted to interview both an outside and Village realtor. The Villages realtor kept cancelling due to health issues, but never offered to send someone out in his place. So, I interviewed another outside realtor. The problem with The Villages is that you are competing with the developer. When I first moved here, the first Village realtor kept trying to sell me her spec house under construction which I felt was unethical. As many times as I told her what I wanted, she did not listen. Switched Realtors and the second Village Realtor took me to the models & we built right away. Never offered to compare or show used homes. They have their own listing system called VLS....it does not reach out like MLS. The buyers went through ReMax in their state where they lived. They were referred to a ReMax realtor here who showed all the MLS listings they were interested in. BTW, it was a qualified buyer, cash sale for over $750K. After selling my house with Amanda, I bought a house listed by The Villages. It did not matter who was listing it, it was about the house, location and price. Selling is a different story. Your are bound by a contract. Interview 3-4 realtors and you will find the right one! Good luck!

l'll will never use the Villages to sell my home, here's why. I listed my first house with the Villages, they took a $1,000 deposit, even
though I thought was not enough. The agent told me he thought it was a sold deal, the prospective buyer needed to transfer money
and I would get another $10,000 deposit within 10 days. On the tenth day, the realtor call and the deal fell thru. The Villages kept
HALF OF MY DEPOSIT!! When I asked the realtor(they aren't really state approved like outside agents) , he told me to read my contract....really arrogant about it. I would stay a mile away from these guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just finished posting my comments when I read the one above. The statement about TV realtors not being "state-approved" ( Realtors are not approved, they are LICENCED) is not true. They have to be by law.

If you both sell and buy within a certain tine from The Villages they rebate you 1%.

We use James Mathew group (Remax). You get national plus international exposure with MLS, Realtor. Com, Zillow etc. Village agents aren't allowed on those sights. May be able to use their service for less than going rate
352 552-2752

If a person works for the developer/owner of the property and sells just on that property they do not require a real estate license. The home, any home, is actually sold by the Broker.
Most on-site sales people are licensed but don't have to be.
You want a Licensed person so they can sell MLS listings or new.