If you are planning to sell your home, you may be trying to save as much money as possible. You might then be looking for different areas where you can limit the amount that you spend, so that you have more money for yourself when the time comes to buy your next home. If so, you could be thinking that you can do without a real estate agent. Indeed, reality dictates that there is no law saying you must use one. However, using a realtor offers many benefits, according to the experts at Exit Real Estate Consultants.
The Benefits of Using a Realtor
While you might think that you can save on realtor’s fees by selling your home yourself, most people who use a real estate agent will make more money overall. This is because despite realtors typically charging between 5 and 6 percent commission, those who sell with a realtor will usually get over 6% more than those who sell on their own (known as For Sale by Owners, or FSBOs).
It is also worth remembering that realtors have many connections, and only homes sold by realtors can be listed in the Multiple Listing Service. Considering this is the first place that realtors look when charged with finding a property for their clients, it pays to have your home listed there. The only way to do this is by using a realtor.
Many realtors do not like dealing with FSBOs, so they will avoid taking their clients to see homes sold in this way. This is because a buyer’s realtor will prefer dealing with an experienced professional such as a seller’s realtor, rather than a homeowner with little experience of the housing market and who may not guarantee them a commission for bringing a buyer. So selling your home without a realtor could seriously limit your pot of potential buyers.
What Can You Expect a Realtor to Do?
Realtor’s work hard for their commission and will do everything in their power to get you a quick sale for the most money. Going it alone is much harder. A good realtor will advise you of any improvements that could be made to your home in order to make it more saleable. They will discuss features that could increase the price you achieve and will give you a reasonable expectation of how much your home could sell for. They will base this on comparable property prices in the area.
A seller’s agent will help you to stage the house before listings and may actually take care of this for you by using a professional staging company to ensure your home is shown in its best light. Whether or not a staging company is used will usually depend on the value of your property, as it can be expensive.
When your home is ready for viewing, the agent will market it by listing it on the multiple listing service. Good realtors will also contact other realtors that they know to tell them about your property to see if they have anyone in mind who might be interested in viewing it. This is often how realtors get quick sales for their buyers.
If an offer comes in for your home, your realtor will get to work contacting any other potential buyers who have expressed an interest. This is to give them a chance to put in their own offer before you accept. This may help you to get a higher price for your home. When all the offers are in, your agent will go through them with you and help you to see which once to accept.