According to a new Zillow report, one city in North Carolina is among the hottest housing markets in the United States for 2024. In this report, Charlotte came in at number seven.
If you’re planning on selling your home in North Carolina, you might be pretty happy to hear how hot the NC market is. However, it’s important to remember that there are costs associated with selling your home. In addition to closing costs, hiring a real estate agent will require that you pay them a hefty chunk of your profits.
Do you have to hire a real estate agent in NC or can you sell a house on your own? How much is realtor commission in NC, on average?
We’ll take a look at the answers to these questions and more in the article that follows.
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Do I Need a Realtor to Sell My House in North Carolina?
You aren’t required to have a real estate agent when you sell a property in North Carolina. Some sellers might choose to do this in order to keep more of their profits in their pocket. If you do choose to hire a real estate agent, they will charge a commission in the form of a percentage of the sale price.
If you sell your home without a realtor or real estate agent, it’s known as selling for sale by owner (FSBO). This method can come with a number of risks, though. Research has found that selling FSBO results in lower home sale prices.
On top of that, sellers will likely still have to pay the real estate commission for the buyer’s agent. It’s also common for FSBO sales to be more likely to fall through and to sit for longer on the market.
For these reasons, many sellers in North Carolina choose to hire a real estate agent when selling their homes. However, other options might be appealing to you if you want to avoid paying realtor commissions in NC. One of these is selling your home through iBuying, which we will discuss later in the article.
What Is the Average Realtor Commission in NC?
The average realtor commission in NC is about equal to the national average. The national average is 5.37%, and the average in North Carolina is 5.6%.
How much a real estate agent is charging in the form of a commission fee can have a huge impact on how much money you take away from the sale of your house. For example, if you sell your home for $300,000, a realtor charging 5.5% would take $16,500. If you signed on with a realtor who charged 4.5% in commission, you would save $3000 and only pay them $13,500.
It is possible to negotiate the realtor commission, though they don’t necessarily have to come down on their rate. Whether or not negotiation will be effective has to do with a number of factors. If you live in a particularly hot market and you have a home that will likely sell quickly, a real estate agent might be more inclined to give you a discount.
How Does Real Estate Agent Commission in NC Work?
When you are selling your home, it’s easy to get hypnotized by all those dollar signs. It’s important to understand that there are costs to selling a house that will impact your bottom line. When you are trying to determine how much money you will walk away with at closing, you’ll need to incorporate commission and closing costs into the equation.
How much your real estate agent makes is directly related to how much you sell your home for. They charge a percentage of the sale price, meaning that they make proportionately more money if your house sells for a higher price than it is listed for.
Average closing costs in North Carolina are about 1.1 percent of the selling price of the home. This is one of the lower rates in the country. On a median-priced $361,000 North Carolina house, 1.1 percent comes to just under $4,000. With average commission rates at 5.5%, this means that the cost of selling a home in NC, on average, is more than 6% of the sale price.
(Are you not entirely sure what closing costs are? No problem. Check out this guide to learn more.)
However, each real estate agent isn’t receiving 5.5%. In fact, they aren’t getting nearly that amount.
This percentage of the sales price is usually split between the two agents involved. Each agent will also split this with the brokerage they work with. There are many different services you are paying for when you pay a real estate commission fee, including online marketing, showing the home, hosting open houses, photography, negotiations, and more.
Who Pays Realtor Commissions in NC?
When two parties engage in a real estate transaction, it’s typical for both of them to be represented by their own real estate agent. That means that there are two agents to pay, not just one. That being said, the average 5.5% commission is usually split between the different agents as well as their respective brokers.
This means that when you sell a house, both agents are getting paid out of your pocket. So even if you choose to list your house FSBO, you still might have to pay a buyer’s agent. One of the ways you can completely avoid real estate agent fees is by selling your home to an iBuyer.
How You Can Save Money on Realtor Commission in NC
If you want to sell your house with a realtor, but aren’t psyched about the steep fees, you might be able to lock in a lower commission rate. There are a number of tactics you can try if you want to go this route.
Find a Discount Real Estate Broker
There are discount real estate brokers that offer services for a lower commission rate. However, the services you will be receiving in this type of deal can vary. You’ll want to make sure you understand what is and isn’t included when you hire a discount real estate broker.
Shop Around
It’s a good idea to interview a few different real estate agents if you’re selling your house with the help of a realtor. Getting the right realtor can make a huge difference in how fast your house sells, how much it sells for, and how smooth the process goes.
Remember, in life, you typically get what you pay for. More experienced and networked real estate agents are commonly going to charge a higher rate than someone that’s just starting out and has less experience.
Negotiate
You also might be able to negotiate the commission rate with a real estate agent. They will be much more likely to lower their rate if they feel they can sell your house for a high price quickly. If your house isn’t in great condition or your local market isn’t hot, they might not want to budge on their commission rate.
You can also sign on to be a repeat customer in order to lock in a lower rate. If you tell a real estate agent you will also use them as your buyer’s agent when you purchase a new home, for example, they might give you a lower rate.
How to Sell Your Home in NC Without a Realtor
It’s totally understandable if the idea of giving a big chunk of your profits to a real estate agent makes you a little uneasy. After all, your home is likely your biggest asset. When you sell, you want to get as much money out of the deal as possible.
There are a number of different options when it comes to selling your house without a realtor. Let’s take a look at a few of them.
Sell Your Home FSBO
You will want to do some research before you list it FSBO. While this can seem appealing, selling a house on your own is actually a lot of work. You will have to do all of the marketing, showings, negotiations, and paperwork on your own if you list on the market without a realtor.
However, this can be a good option for individuals who are experienced home sellers or who are real estate professionals themselves.
Find a Cash Buyer Locally
Another option is finding a cash buyer locally. You should be careful going this route, though. There are unfortunately a lot of scammers out there who will either try to buy a house for significantly less than its worth or just charge an application fee and disappear.
If you choose to sell your home to a “we buy houses” company, make sure you do your research. Some of these companies are definitely legitimate. Do your homework before working with them, though, as the last thing you want is to get scammed.
Sell Your Home to an iBuyer
Another option is selling your home to an iBuyer. This is one of the fastest ways to sell your house if speed is one of your main concerns. It also means that you can sell your home without a realtor on either side of the equation.
This is another way to receive a cash offer on your home but without having to work with potentially sketchy “we buy houses” companies. Another big plus is that iBuyers don’t always need to inspect your home before buying it.
When you sell to an iBuyer, you also don’t have to make repairs, stage your home, or deal with showings. IBuyers will even sometimes help facilitate your move or help you declutter your house.
While there are definitely trade-offs to selling your home to an iBuyer, this can be a reasonable path if you want to sell your house fast with as little hassle as possible. After all, you likely have better things to do than have your life taken over by the selling process for several months at best.
It’s always a good idea to weigh out all of your options when you are making such a big financial decision. It’s possible that selling to an iBuyer isn’t for you, but on the other hand it might be the perfect fit.
Are you interested in learning more about how you can sell your house online? Take a look at this article for more information.
Do You Want to Avoid the Hassle of Selling Your House on the Open Market?
Selling your home can feel like a full-time job. Not only do you have to get your property ready for the market and keep it clean during showings, but the whole process can stretch on for so long that it really takes over your life for a period of time. Even if you accept an offer on your house the first day that it hits the market, there will still be at least six weeks that pass (at best) before you have the money in your hand.
Nearly everything about selling your house the traditional way is a headache. In fact, it’s one of the most stressful things that people do. However, a new phenomenon has emerged that takes away pretty much all of the most irritating aspects of selling your house.
When you sell your house to an iBuyer, you don’t have to put tons of time and money into making repairs before listing your house. You also don’t have to have your life constantly interrupted by last minute showings. Instead, you can sell your house as-is, fast, for cash.
Are you wondering how much your home is worth to an iBuyer? You can use our home valuation tool here!
