Twelve Excellent Reasons To Use A Real Estate Agent
Those who sell their own homes are missing out on a trick if they think they’re going to save money by doing it alone. The work that goes into selling a home is what puts most people off of doing it alone, but in the interest of saving money, people skip out on one of the essential pieces of the puzzle: the expertise. No one wants to hand over a percentage of the sales proceeds of their home to someone else so that they can sell the house for them, but if you’re going to get the best possible deal and the best advice, then a real estate agent is going to be the ideal option here.
Selling a house takes time, money and energy, and if you haven’t got the time to do it, handing it over to someone who does is going to make a huge difference. Real estate agents are worth every penny you will spend, but until you do your research, you’re not going to know it.
So, let’s take a look at twelve reasons you should use a real estate agent the next time you need to sell your house and move on.
The Multiple Listing Service
If there is one thing that a real estate agent can do for you that you cannot do for yourself, it’s get onto the Multiple Listing Service. This is a goldmine for a seller and once a home gets onto this, it’s sent to dozens of online websites. Your home will always have people looking to view it and you don’t have to worry about open houses. The thing is, you can’t put your own property onto the MLS; a real estate agent who is licensed in the state to sell homes can do it, though. When you list a property as FSBO – or, for sale by owner – you have to pay a commission to a broker to have access, and it’s for this reason that only around 10% of homes on the Multiple Listing Service is made up of these kind of homes.
Buyers Rarely Look At FSBO Listings
People choose to sell their own homes and they do so to save money on commission. The problem is that you may not save any money at all. Statistically, you can see that homes sold by real estate agents sell for around $30,000 more than homes for sale by owner. Real estate agents reach buyers on a different level, and that means that the big buyers will be shopping through real estate agents. They go through real estate agents for convenience and ease, so if you try to sell for yourself, you’re not going to get the sale that you want at the price that you hope for.
Agents? They Put You First Every Time
A real estate agent is contracted by you, and they have a financial duty to you as the client. A realtor has to work for you and is bound by law to work for you in your best interest. If there is the chance that they are not acting in your best interests, they have to stand up in court and explain themselves. If there’s any way you want to sell your house and you have a real estate agent, they are duty bound to work for you!
Your Real Estate Agent Will List Your Home Properly
When you trust a real estate agent with your home, you are trusting that they are going to list your house properly for the price that you want for it. As they are being paid a commission, it’s in their best interests to list your home properly and this is exactly what they will do for you. Using a real estate agent will ensure that your listing is well-managed.
Real Estates Are Tough Negotiators
Do you want to believe that you can negotiate the sale of your home better than a licensed professional negotiator? There is a good reason that a real estate agent is paid a sales commission for the work that they do. They are GOOD at it. You may be excellent at talking, but no one could negotiate a house sale as well as a real estate agent can. They’ve been flipping homes their whole career and they bring something to the table that no one else can.
Do You Know Your Zoning Laws?
There are so many people that are trying to sell their homes without even knowing that they are in an area with weird zoning laws. You could be violating a code unknowingly and a house will not get sold if it’s violating a law!
It’s Hard To Price Your Home
Do you really know how much your home is worth, or are you going to have a good guess? Real estate agents know how to give you a price based on the information in the neighborhood that counts the most. If you are a seller without a real estate agent, you’re going to possibly lose out on the best price for your home. A real estate agent can make your listing, where before you were not getting any bites!
Marketing Is Key
You can list your home, but do you know how to market it? You cannot list a house and wait for the offers to come in, and there is a big difference between marketing your home and selling it and that’s where real estate agents come in. Marketing gives your home the exposure that it needs in the right places. Your real estate agent will know what people are looking for and they’ll know how to write content that will sell your property. They’ll do it without missing a trick! They can highlight everything in the home that makes it stand out, and it’s a time-consuming process for a seller. A real estate agent will market your home through the angles and areas that you may never have thought of doing.
Real Estate Agents Have A-List Buyers
The real estate agents that you will contact will be working with you as a seller as much as they are working with those looking to buy a house in the first place. They’ll know the perfect buyer who is looking for what you’re selling, and this puts your home at an advantage over others. The only way it stays at an advantage? Is if you use a realtor!
Skilled Professionals Just A Phone Call Away!
Real estate agents aren’t the only professionals that you deal with when you use their services to sell your house. They will have access to expert electricians, builders and other construction professionals who can give you advice on the best way to shape up your home for sale. They’ll be able to ensure that your home is sale-ready, and they will give you the contacts to help you to do it. They’ll know professionals in the industry that you have no idea exist, and it’s these professionals that will get your house exactly where it needs to be.
Hand Over Your Paperwork
Do you enjoy doing paperwork? Contracts are usually pages long, and when you add in the disclosures and addendums, they’re even longer than you think. You shouldn’t have to deal with all the paperwork in selling your house, and with a real estate agent, it’s not something you will be dealing with at all! Stop worrying about paperwork and hand it to a professional who can handle it all for you in a way that will be efficient and smart. When you have all that paperwork in front of you, it’s very easy to make a mistake. The mistakes that you make with your paperwork are going to cost you so much more than just money. In law, you need to avoid making mistakes with paperwork or it could cost you the sale of the house. When you have a realtor, these mistakes do not have a reflection on you, which is what you want to avoid most of all.
Time-Consuming Work
Selling a home is as time-consuming as it could be. You have paperwork to fill out and people to show around, open houses to host and even more paperwork on top of that. Marketing a home and doing all of the smaller day to day tasks – such as going to work and keeping your home presentable? It’s a lot! When you bring on the help of a real estate agent, you’re bringing someone on who already does all of these full time for a living. Until you try to sell your house, you have no idea how hard it’s really going to be. The best that you can do is to trust the professionals who can sell your home and absorb the cost.
A real estate agent can sell your home effectively, quickly and with your best interests in mind. Interview some estate agents in your area that know your neighborhood, and make your home ready for sale!