Because selling a home is a complicated process that most people on average do only 3 to 4 times in their lifespan, you want to do it right with the help of a REALTOR®.
Here’s why:
- Expertise: Selling homes is what most REALTORS®, specially listing agents, do day in and day out. It’s like what you do everyday which you do best. A REALTOR® can do a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) in a few minutes to help price the property for sale. In addition, the agents can help determine what repair work will significantly increase the home’s value thus leading up to a quicker sale.
- Marketing: REALTORS® have a marketing system and in place which gives your home the maximum exposure out there to the public through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) which syndicates to quite a number of websites including the ones that most people know about – Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, Realtor.com, etc.
- Stress relief: Having an agent help you sell a home relieves you from a lot of stress that you’d have dealt with had you decided to sell the home yourself.
- Risk: There is a bit of legality that comes with selling a home. With a licensed agent on your side, the seller can stay worry-free about the legality because it’s the agent’s job to pull in the right parties as needed. Agents carry Errors and Omissions (E&O) insurance that covers the errors and omissions occurred during the real estate transactions. This is a major item that sellers lack when selling their homes themselves opening them up for possible litigation.
- Network: Networking is what REALTORS® do day in and day out. They are always in the know. Hiring an agent to sell your home allows you to sell your home quicker because of the network, team and business relationship they already have in place.
- Leverage: There is quite a bit of work that goes into selling a home – from making a decision to sell your home to actually closing on its sale. I’ve stated them in my previous blog post – Selling your home yourself (FSBO). The real estate agent is your single most important ally in the entire process. The agent is the super-man that you want to call in for help to sell your home. As needed, the agent will pull in people from his network.
- Ethics and professionalism: The agents are held to a standard of professionalism and ethics. As your listing agent, they are there to protect your interest.
So, there you have it. If you get sick, you go to your doctor. If you need a haircut, you go to your hair-stylist. If you need to mow your lawn, you call your landscaper. Just like that, if you need to sell your house and aren’t proficient at it yourself, you should call a REALTOR®. Sagun “Sam” Shrestha is a great one!