Under Contract....

Somehow, someway, after what seems like an eternity, we are officially under contract. Really, the only thing that could derail this is the home inspection - but given our place was built in 2002, I am not too concerned. However, will not take the final breath of relief until we actually hand the keys over. As you never know...

The buyer has actually never seen the place - he is in Algeria - but has sent his "team" over to look 3 times over the course of 6 weeks. Apparently, this will be a second home in the states as he does a lot of business in the area ... I dont know the entire story - but I dont care - their money is good with me.

The contract process actually started last Friday - but given the 10 hour difference - has made this way too lenghty and stressful, wondering when you will hear back.

And I must say for those looking to sell...the method in which we sold probably saved us $10,000 in commisions and I would reccomend it to anyone. I will give a free ad to Keenan Realty (http://www.keenanrealtyofchicagoland.com/home.htm) as out of all the people in my neighborhood, most that are using the old fashined method of selling real estate did not have the quantity of showings nor any offers (we have had 3 offers in total).

Its an interesting business model - as it lives in the gap created between using a full blown, high commission realtor and the low end, flat fee services with no human. This process gives you a little of both - flat fee up front to get exposure, and a very small commission on the back end when the realtor comes into play. All of this allows you to price a little more aggressive - as you know you will be paying 1/2 (at a minimum) the commission as your neighbor.

My biggest concern with this method was that if a buyer ever came without a agent - then I would have to show the place (advantage being then all commissions would be negated if an agentless buyer put in an offer). However - that never happened - as expected - everyone that came always brought their own realtor. So I never had to show our place.

In the end, our hunch was 100% correct - selling agents dont sell houses (nor show them) - the buyer and their agent is in control. With the Internet and MLS, I dont see how many realtors will be in business in 10 years (much less 5). They will alwasys exist - but their model has to change. Buyers no longer go to realtors first, its not 1985 where the only way to find out what was for sale was to call a realtor - they go the the Internet and look at pictures, floorplans and virtual tours. Sites like buysiderealty.com work the same way on the buyers side. Its all changing and most of these realtors dont want to admit it. Brian Keenan from Keenan Realty gets it - its going to become a game of high volume, low commision - rather than selling 5 houses per year the traditional way - he sells 100 via his method. Makes sense to me...

So, hopefully, we are done - with this phase of the process. Then the real stress starts of building a house.