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I’m going to share with you some of the secrets that most Real Estate agents don’t want you to know. I need to say upfront that in no way is this intended to solicit your listing if you’re currently listed with another Real Estate agent.

This information is intended more for people that are considering selling their home or interviewing agents for the job. I want to share with you some insights and give you a little better information and then offer a follow-up consultation with you and/or my written commission schedule by request.

You can contact me by phone at 303-526-2606 or you can email me Sam [at] SamWilsonGroup.com – just put ‘Commission Schedule’ in the subject line. Or, as always, you can visit my website www.SamWilsonGroup.com

Here’s a couple of the insights that I’d like to share with you today.

• First, did you know that by law Commissions are negotiable? That’s right! They are! So, don’t feel shy or awkward about talking to us about our commission and making sure that you’re getting a win-win situation.

• Another point about Real Estate Commissions, is that not all Realtors are going to give you equal service. There are a lot of fine agents out there that are going to do a great job for you. However, we don’t all do the same things for the commission that we charge. Make sure that your Realtor is doing the most that can be done in order to market and solicit your home for sale the way you think it ought to be done.

• There’s everything from a discount agent that will just put a sign in your yard and list your property in the MLS and attach it to a few websites.
• Then there are the full-service agents (like myself) that are willing to:
  • go way above and beyond
  • do all kinds of internet advertising
  • virtual tours
  • professional photography
  • print advertising
  • There are a lot of us that have assistants that provide you detailed service on a daily and weekly basis.
• And then there are agents that are out there all by themselves. There are agents that sell dozens and hundreds of homes a year and then there are agents that sell a couple a month.

Why should everybody’s commission be the same? I don’t think you get the same value for everyone that’s out there. Make sure you understand what you’re getting for your money. I also believe in win-win. I believe that negotiation implies ‘give and take.’ Be willing to compromise and work with your agent based on the services and activity that you get from your agent.

There are several points that commissions can be negotiated on. Just a couple of those are:

• the number of transactions you do with your agent
• the size and price of your home is also very important. Did you know that it takes us just as much work to do a $100,000-deal as it does to do a $1,000,000-deal? That’s right! Honestly, the higher-priced deals are usually a little smoother and easier to get done. So, why wouldn’t I negotiate my commission for higher end homes on higher-priced deals? I’m absolutely willing to discuss that with you.
• are you selling a home to turn around and buy a replacement home? I think that we should have some discussion about that because I’m definitely willing to work with you on the commission of selling your home because I’ll more than make up the difference when I help you buy a replacement home. By the way, I’m going to get you a better deal on the buying of the replacement home, too.

Let’s have a win-win relationship and a long term relationship. I’m not in this for the transaction, I’m in it for the experience and the long term relationship. There are a lot of fine agents out there that feel the same way. So, on our behalf, I will invite you to talk with us if you’re in the process of interviewing an agent or considering selling your home to make sure you know what you get for the money you spend when the home closes.

To that end, remember, I don’t get a penny until the home closes. You should also know what your agent’s willing to invest upfront at no cost to you whether the home sells or not. I spend a lot of money to market your home and I am happy to wait until it sells to get paid. So, again, there are a lot of us out there that are of the same mind and just want to make sure that you’re getting the value that you deserve for your money.

For more information, call me directly 303-526-2606 or visit me on www.SamWilsonGroup.com or drop me an email Sam [at] SamWilsonGroup.com

Until next time


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There are advantages of a home buyer warranty when marketing and selling your home. You may have heard of these for pre-owned homes, homes that are older, and obviously, homes that are not new construction. These are 1-year insurance plans that give the buyer a peace of mind.

Which brings me to the first advantage:

• When marketing your home, if you list that you’re giving the buyer a Home Buyers Warranty with the sale of the home, then immediately, they have some peace of mind and may choose your home over others just for that reason alone.

The second advantage is:

• During inspections, buyers are a lot more likely to be less nit-picky when asking you to make repairs, because after all, if there’s a question about the furnace or the hot water heater, it can most easily be addressed by a service or a cleaning. Then the buyer figures if anything goes wrong with it in the first year, they’ll get a whole new one replaced under the policy. It’s a lot more effective when it comes time to sell an older home or a home with some older equipment in it.

The final advantage is after closing:

• If something goes wrong, the buyer is a lot less likely to call you or your Realtor about why you were hiding the leak in the dishwasher or the garbage disposal that only work twice since they moved in. They’re more likely to call the Home Buyers Warranty company and get a new one very inexpensively, if, at any cost, at all.

There’s a lot of advantages to these and I strongly recommend in today’s market that sellers consider these because they give you a little bit of edge versus your competition. I don’t sell them, Realtors don’t sell them, we don’t get any money for recommending them, we just think they’re a good idea a lot of the time. Why wait until the buyer asks? Why not just put it in place upfront and then it makes a negotiation go a lot more smoothly.

I’m sure your Realtor has a couple of these companies they’ll recommend, I certainly do, and would be happy to talk with you about it further in my free seller 1-hour consultation if you’re thinking about selling your home. If you’d like to talk with me, you can call me at 303-526-2606 or to get more information, just email me:  Sam [at] SamWilsonGroup.com. You can also visit my website  www.SamWilsonGroup.com for lots of information and free reports.

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Disclosures – This is the #1 reason sellers get in trouble after the sale of a home for failure to disclose something that they had knowledge of, during the time they owned the home and neglected to disclose or provide information about, to the buyer.

This is very important. You want to be done with the sale of your home after the closing. You don’t want anybody coming back to you asking questions or suspecting that you neglected to give them some important piece of information about an item or problem with the home. A lot of sellers ask me, ‘Well, Sam, if I disclose that, then, it’s going to make the buyer worried about purchasing the home.’ And my answer is: Exactly.  And that’s exactly why you need to disclose it.

A great rule of thumb is, if you think it’s going to worry a buyer, then you must disclose it. It’s the perfect reason to.

In most cases, you’ve had that problem fixed.

• You’ve attended to it,

• you’ve had a professional come in and evaluate it and fix it, or

• you’ve fixed it yourself.

Buyers would much rather see that if there was a problem, that you addressed it and then you can talk about whether it was addressed correctly or if it needs further attention. If it does, you’re going to want to have it addressed. There’s no reason to be afraid of disclosing issues that have happened to the home as long as you’ve addressed them in the right way and made the buyer feel comfortable that everything is taken care of.

Don’t forget to disclose anything. There’s a hundred plus items that you’ll have to go through and consider disclosing when listing your home. My advice is always: disclose everything and let buyers have a peace of mind that you’ve addressed the things in the home. No home is perfect, every home has had problems new or old and you’re better off just letting them know what those were and what you did to fix them.

We’ll talk about this further during your free 1-hour seller consultation. And you can call me to schedule that, at 303-526-2606  or just send me an email Sam [at} SamWilsonGroup.com  As always you can visit my website:  www.SamWilsonGroup.com for lots of information and free reports on this topic and many others.

Until next time