When ListWise was founded, we recognized the immense power of financial incentives and understood that real estate agents' incentives often didn't align well with homeowners' interests. Our mission was clear: increase competition among agents and ensure their incentives matched homeowners', resulting in better results for home sellers and a victory for top-quality agents. The outcomes for our early adopters have been fantastic, often setting new neighborhood price records and surpassing homeowners' anticipated sale prices. These successes have yielded essential takeaways for all homeowners:

Lesson #1: Understand Your Home's True Value

While using platforms like Zillow or Redfin can provide a rough estimate, they don't consider your home's specific condition or local market intricacies. To pinpoint your home's actual value, consult several reputable agents who are intimately familiar with your area. This helps avoid underpricing or overpricing your property.

Lesson #2: Seek Agents Who Recognize Your Home's Worth

Every agent has their own perspectives and biases, which can influence their valuation of your property. Our experience reveals that different agents' estimated sale prices can vary significantly, often by 10%, even among experienced and highly-rated agents. Suppose your California home is valued at around $1 million, who would you want negotiating on your behalf: the agent who really thinks it is worth $950,000 or the one who believes it's worth $1,050,000?

Lesson #3: Harness the Power of Financial Incentives

By employing an incentive-based commission structure, where the agent participates in the sale price exceeding the incentive price, agents are motivated to secure the highest possible sale price. Our early adopters have not only seen remarkable economic results but have also reported increased satisfaction and trust compared to traditional flat percentage commissions.

Lesson #4: What Agents Do Is More Important Than What They Say

Selecting an agent who genuinely believes in achieving top dollar for your home can be challenging. In a flat percentage commission model, agents might make lofty promises to secure your listing. With the ListWise incentive commission approach, an agent's pay is linked to the sale price surpassing the agreed-upon incentive price. Evaluating each agent's proposed incentive price becomes a simple way to gauge their confidence in delivering various sale prices.

Lesson #5: Many Top Agents Embrace Competition and Incentive-Based Commissions

When ListWise was launched, we were confident it would benefit homeowners, as various studies had highlighted the inefficiencies of the traditional flat percentage commission system. However, it's important to note that the current system also poses challenges for agents. The large number of agents and homeowners' tendency to contact only one agent often forces agents to spend significant time and money on advertising. The ability to compete based on their ability to add value to homeowners is a welcome change for many agents.

At ListWise our goal is to empower you to make smart financial decisions and help you get the best results when you sell your home. We can help you find and compare multiple agents that fit your specific needs, and we make it easy to hire the agent of your choice using an incentive-based commission contract so that you get the best price for your home. There is no cost or obligation to using our service and we won't spam you with emails or calls or sell your information, so reach out today and let's start a conversation.