Most Sellers Still Use An Agent

Selling a home has never come with more tools. Property portals, home-value estimates, AI search, social media, digital contracts, & online research sit a few taps away. Yet sellers keep choosing real estate professionals in huge numbers. That says plenty. We will be exploring this topid, today here on LUXE BLOG.

Quick Points

• 91% of sellers used an agent
• FSBO sales fell to 5%
• Sellers want help with marketing
• Pricing still carries major weight
• Timing remains part of the job

Sellers Keep Choosing Professional Representation

The numbers deserve attention. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, over 90% of sellers sold with help from a real estate agent or broker. That matched the highest share NAR had recorded. At the same time, For Sale By Owner transactions represented only 5% of sales. NAR based the report on buyer & seller transactions from July 2024 through June 2025. So this gives us a useful look at how sellers acted during a period of major change in residential real estate.

• More than 9 in 10 sellers used an agent
• FSBO represented only 5% of sales
• Agent use matched NAR’s record level
• The survey covered a full year of transactions
• Sellers kept choosing representation
• Self-service tools remained widely available

That last point matters. Sellers had plenty of technology at their fingertips. Most still chose a professional to help run the sale.

The August 2024 Changes Put Representation Under A Spotlight

Real estate practices changed on August 17, 2024. These were NAR settlement-related practice changes, rather than a new federal real estate law. Among the changes, offers of broker compensation could no longer appear on an MLS. MLS participants working with buyers also became subject to written buyer-agreement requirements before touring homes. Compensation disclosures received more attention, too. Consumers received a clearer framework for discussing services, representation, & compensation with real estate professionals.

• MLS compensation offers were removed
• Written buyer agreements became a major requirement
• Compensation discussions became more direct
• Consumers gained more visibility into representation
• Broker services faced more scrutiny
• Real estate professionals had to explain their role

That backdrop makes the seller numbers worth watching. After a period filled with discussion about commissions, representation, & changing real estate practices, sellers still showed a strong preference for using agents.

Sellers Told NAR What They Want

The 91% figure grabs attention. The reasons behind it tell the bigger story. NAR reported that sellers placed high priority on several jobs they wanted an agent to handle. Marketing sat near the center. Competitive pricing mattered, too. Sellers also wanted help completing the sale within a timeframe that fit their plans. Those needs involve judgment, follow-through, communication, & coordination across the transaction.

• Market the property to buyers
• Price the home competitively
• Work around the seller’s timeline
• Manage buyer interest
• Review market response
• Help evaluate offers
• Keep the transaction moving
• Support decisions through closing

A home sale rarely comes down to one task. Sellers appear to recognize that. They’re hiring someone to help turn a property into a completed transaction.

Marketing Starts Long Before A Buyer Makes An Offer

Putting a property online takes minutes. Building attention around that property takes much more work. A seller has to think about presentation, photography, video, pricing, positioning, digital reach, buyer response, showing activity, & follow-up. Then the market starts talking back. Strong traffic with few showings can send one signal. Plenty of showings with no offers can send another. A real estate professional helps the seller read those signals & decide what comes next.

• Property presentation
• Photography
• Video
• Listing copy
• Digital distribution
• Buyer outreach
• Showing feedback
• Market response

This is one area where our work at Williams Luxury Homes connects naturally with what NAR says sellers want. Our Scottsdale-based boutique brokerage created WLH Studios as an in-house marketing, video, & technology arm for property marketing across Greater Phoenix.

Online Reach Has Changed How Buyers Find Homes

Buyer traffic no longer comes through one door. People search listing portals. They search Google. They read community pages, compare cities, follow social accounts, watch property videos, & increasingly ask AI tools questions about real estate. A brokerage website can play a role in that discovery process. Williams Luxury Homes has spent years building a large Arizona real estate website with city pages, community coverage, property searches, local articles, & real estate resources. That organic presence creates another route for buyers to encounter our listings.

• Traditional organic search
• AI-assisted search
• Local real estate content
• Community pages
• City pages
• Property search
• Social media
• Direct website inquiries

Our approach has a simple phrase behind it.

Part Digital, A Whole Bunch Human.

Technology can help people find information. People still have to listen, respond, advise, negotiate, & carry the transaction forward.

Pricing Requires More Than Finding A Number

Pricing was another major seller priority identified by NAR. That makes sense. A seller can find automated valuations, recent sales, estimated values, & price-per-square-foot figures online in seconds. Those numbers still need context. One nearby sale may have included major renovations. Another may have involved concessions, a different lot, another community position, or a different moment in the market. Pricing a property means deciding how the home fits against what buyers can choose right now.

• Recent comparable sales
• Competing listings
• Property condition
• Buyer activity
• Showing response
• Offer patterns
• Seller timing
• Local market movement

Williams Luxury Homes works throughout Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Phoenix, Cave Creek, Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, & other parts of Greater Phoenix. Our real estate representation work includes helping sellers make those pricing decisions with local context behind them.

The spreadsheet matters. So does knowing what the numbers are telling you.

A Seller’s Timeline Can Change The Entire Strategy

Price gets plenty of attention during a sale. Timing deserves its share. NAR found that selling within a specific timeframe ranked among the priorities sellers wanted help with. A seller may have another purchase underway. A relocation may be approaching. A property may need to close before another financial decision can move forward. Those facts can affect pricing, offer evaluation, negotiations, & closing terms.

• Target listing date
• Desired closing date
• Carrying costs
• Another home purchase
• Relocation plans
• Offer contingencies
• Financing terms
• Closing coordination

That means the highest number on an offer sheet doesn’t automatically answer every question. Terms matter. Timing matters. The seller’s actual goal matters.

Professional representation helps keep those pieces connected.

FSBO Numbers Tell Their Own Story

NAR also reported that FSBO sales fell to 5%, an all-time low in its 2025 report. That deserves care when interpreting it. It doesn’t mean every homeowner who sells without an agent will have a bad result. It also doesn’t prove that hiring an agent creates a certain dollar increase in a sale price. Property types, locations, seller circumstances, & transaction structures can differ greatly. The broader point is simpler.

• FSBO reached 5%
• Agent use reached 91%
• Sellers had access to online tools
• Most still selected professional help
• Representation remained the common choice
• Marketing remained a seller priority
• Pricing remained a seller priority

That’s a meaningful consumer decision. People can access more real estate information than they could years ago. Most sellers in NAR’s research still wanted professional representation beside them.

Good Representation Has Become More Human

Technology keeps changing real estate work. AI can help organize information, assist with marketing, generate ideas, process data, & speed up parts of a brokerage operation. Search technology can connect buyers with properties in new ways. Digital systems can keep information moving. None of that removes the human decisions sitting inside a real estate transaction. Sellers still have to decide what to list for, how to respond to the market, which offer fits their goals, & how to react when circumstances change.

• Listen to the seller
• Explain the options
• Read market feedback
• Recommend next steps
• Communicate with other parties
• Track the transaction
• Solve problems
• Keep the seller informed

That philosophy also shapes how we work at Williams Luxury Homes. We have built digital resources, an AI division, WLH Studios, local market content, & specialized brokerage divisions. The technology supports the work. It doesn’t replace the relationship.

Part Digital, A Whole Bunch Human.

Sellers Still See A Reason To Hire An Agent

That may be the clearest message in NAR’s numbers. Real estate has changed since August 17, 2024. Technology has changed. Search has changed. Consumer access to property information has changed. Yet NAR’s 2025 research found that more than nine out of ten sellers still chose an agent to help sell their home. Their stated priorities help explain why.

• Market the home
• Set competitive pricing
• Meet the seller’s timeframe
• Read buyer response
• Manage offers
• Coordinate the sale
• Give clear advice
• Keep things moving

At Williams Luxury Homes, we’re glad to see consumers continue to place value on representation. We’re a Scottsdale-based boutique brokerage serving Greater Phoenix, & good representation is at the center of the work we do.

Still, this story isn’t really about us.

It’s about sellers.

They have more information, more technology, & more ways to approach a sale than ever before. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, the overwhelming majority still chose to put a real estate professional in their corner.

That choice says plenty.