If you have thought of selling your home yourself or seen signs as you are driving that say "For Sale By Owner" or what we call FSBO (Fizbo), you'll notice that they may stay for sale for months or years. You're only relying on people driving by to find your home for sale, when a savy agent knows how to market the home, so why not advertise to the masses? Most of the time FSBO's don't sell, which costs more in carrying costs for the seller, who then hires a real estate professional in the long run or if it does sell they wish they did hire one. Most of the time if it sells without an agent, then the seller will end up not being able to negotiate properly and will end up with 10-30% less than what an agent could have gotten them for their home. Then, we have Zillow....ha! They tell you what your home value is, right? Well its not always correct on home values or even if a home is for sale at all.
Many people think they will save a lot of money by selling it without the help of a Real Esate Agent, but more often an agent will know the market and be able to sell it at top dollar, which will give the seller more money in their pocket without all of the headaches and nightmares of selling it themselves! Having an agent that works "for" you will get your listing out there on the MLS, marketed the correct way and to other agents as well, among other things imperative to selling a house. An agent will have your best interest at heart the whole way through the transaction, know how to get it prepared to sell and staged properly if the client listens to them, have professional photography done and will take all of the normal headaches away from the seller. FSBO's get all the telephone calls, emails, people just showing up at their door, the fear of dealing with people they don't know and strangers having their phone number as well, on top of knowing where they live. Then, there are open houses to be held with many people coming through just to look and be nosy, so why not let the agent take that off your plate as well. With professional photography, drones and walk thru videos we have available people can sometimes just know that's the ONE from the pictures, even buying sight unseen in today's real estate market.
An agent can market to their sphere and out of state clients, which opens the listing up to more buyers. Today, many buyers go to the web to find their homes and are so savy on finding current listings that are actively on the MLS and agent sites. Personally, knowing what I know, I would never want to sell my home without a Real Estate Agent. Some things you should leave up to the professionals. We also have a wide range of vendors to help with any repairs that come up during the sell and know how to negotiate the repairs. If you're thinking of selling, PLEASE give me a call so I can walk you through the process and look out for your best interest!
Article Written by: Audra Hicks
