The Importance Of A Real Estate Agent When Selling

by David Perez Marketing

You see the signs everywhere, especially in a strong economy: For Sale By Owner. For some reason, many people believe they'll do a better job of selling their homes without the assistance of a real estate agent, and it all starts with setting that sign out in the yard. If you've been thinking about selling your home without the help of an agent, there are quite a few things you should probably think about first.

The biggest thing you'll need to consider is, how will you get people to take a look at your house simply by putting a sign in the yard? Marketing a home for sale is not easy work, but Realtors do have several things in place to make it easier. If you're selling your home on your own, there are some things you can use, but you must remember that not all consumers know what's out there.

You could take the time to put your home on every FSBO website known, but if buyers don't know theses sites, you'll just be wasting your time. Consider the possibility that buyers now know Craigslist, Zillow, Trulia, and the newspaper. That's right, the classified section. Next, you have to remember that all of these options are available to real estate agents, too. That means you'll be fighting with professional agents to catch the attention of potential buyers.

That's just how marketing goes, and you should be prepared for the realities. When it comes to marketing for real estate agents, things are much simpler. There is a network that all Realtors use, called the MLS. Sure, you can find some agents that will get you on the MLS for a much smaller fee, and that might be the way you want to go. The MLS allows all buyers and agents to see what's available for sale in the area.

It's easy to narrow down searches so that potential buyers don't get overwhelmed with the number of choices out there. If you can get your home on the MLS when selling, you do have much greater chances of reaching potential buyers, but you have to realize this isn't the only thing a Realtor can do for you. Let's say you've put your house on Craigslist and in the classified section. You've found an agent who will put it on the MLS for a fee. Then what happens?

How do you continue reaching out to potential buyers? It's not like you can approach people at the grocery store and ask them if they're interested in your house. Even the best salesmen in the world would have trouble doing that. So how do you reach out to potential buyers? With a real estate agent, you can be certain he or she will always be working at that.

The easiest way to find potential buyers is to work with other real estate agents. These agents all have buyers who may be looking for something just like your house. Without someone there to advocate for your home, it might go unnoticed in searches, set aside without a real estate agent to talk to, or even simply ignored. For the sake of argument, let's say someone does find your home and wants to buy it. When you receive the first offer, how do you go about accepting or countering? Unless you have the official forms ready to go, you may not even know how to go about making a counteroffer. While you can certainly verbally parry, nothing you say will be solid until you can put it on paper and sign it. Without the proper forms, you may not provide the correct wording, the right stipulations, or even the best deadline for the counteroffer. Don't you want to know that you're protected in your paperwork? After that, you'll need someone who can help you determine the steps to take and when to take them.

If you don't have representation, you could find that you're liable to pay inspection costs, title insurance costs, and even closing costs. You may not get a closing date that works best for you, or you might get to the closing table and find out you weren't prepared with the necessary funds, which would then wreck the whole deal. There are just way too many things to think about when you're selling a house to try and do it all on your own. Aside from that, there are too many ways to mess up the deal. It really is worth it in the end to pay the Realtor's fee and get the job done right. You'll get the benefit of a great real estate agent's expertise, marketing knowledge, the position on the MLS, the information regarding negotiation of contracts, the official paperwork at your fingertips, the assistance through the inspections, and the experience at the closing table. Do you really want to leave all this to chance?

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