Many people will suggest that’s is easy and popular to sell your home on your own. And the lure of saving a few thousand dollars definitely is attractive. Be careful going after that easy money; it’s rarely easy.
Selling a home is not a trivial task and can be expensive if you make mistakes.
Real estate agents earn their money and it’s due to their knowledge and experience that they get paid. There is real value in what they do and the knowledge they bring to the table.
I have compiled our version of the 6 best reasons to contract with a real estate agent to sell your house:
1) Price:
In in the majority of seller surveys, the biggest For Sale By Owner (or FSBOs as they’re called) concern is determining the selling price. Expect a long time on the market if you list it at a high price. Too low, you don’t get your home’s true value. Just right, you sell your home for the best price in the shortest time.
2) Price:
Agents can create CMA’s (Comparative Market Analysis) for your home thru the special tools and software they have access to. A definite competative advantage over the do-it-yourselfer. These tools and expertise allow agents to get that magic mix of the best price in the shortest amount of time when selling your home. That is what they do.
3) Price:
Can You Really Afford To Wait?: About 12% per year (or 1% per month) is the average cost to carry a home between listing and sale. Realtors can earn a huge part of their commision just by saving you that 1% each month. They have the expertise to tget that right balance of price to get your home sold quickly.
4) Marketing:
Real Estate Agencies have access to the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) which sends out all current listings to all the trained and State licensed Real Estate Agencies in the Charlotte area. Let’s look at this realistically. This is what they do. In most places it is hard or expensive fora non-agent to access the MLS. (Close to Lake Norman, “MLS Only” Companies frequently cost somewhere between $295 and $995, but easily you could pay more.)
5) Marketing:
Who Knows WHo is Looking Better than a Realtors? Real Estate Agencies know who is looking and who to contact. They handle about 90% of all home sales so they already know and don’t have to start from scratch. Wouldn’t you want to be able to contact the top 20-30 Real Estate Agencies in your area quickly? Agents can do this in minutes since they already contact them frequently.
6) Marketing:
I don’t think you could build an effective arguement aginst the idea that Real Estate Agencies know the right advertising places. With over 75% of home buyers starting their search for a home on the Internet (and almost 60% using the Internet at some time in their home search), do you plan to effectively advertise your home on the Internet and push it out to Google Base, Zillow.com and all the other Search Engines? How will your Real Estate Agency advertise? Will they use signs? Flyers? The ‘Net?
Don’t think of selling your home on your own unless you’re completely confident you can handle these items. Real Estate Agencies can make the difference and save you a lot if you can’t.
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