Why Hire a Realtor?

A realtor is someone who is an expert in all things real estate. This means they know pricing, neighborhoods, the market, the laws and the paperwork that encompasses all of this information. For sale by owner (FSBO) home sales have been on a steady decline, and for good reason. The average sale price of an FSBO home was $185,000 and the average sale price of a home where the seller was represented by an agent was $245,000, a difference of$60,000. If you include the commissions of each side 2.5% for the listing agent and 2.5% for the selling agent on a $245,000 home that’s only $12,250 in total commission, still leaving you with $47,750 more than the FSBO seller. When almost $50,000 is on the line it pays to have someone who is an expert negotiator who can get you the most value for your home. An experienced agent also knows the neighborhood’s in their area and can suggest areas of a town that you might not be familiar with. Such as where are the best schools? Best restaurants or somewhere that makes your commute to work easier. They can also give you some very sound advice on if it’s a buyers or seller’s market. Obviously, if you are selling your home it is best to sell during a seller’s market. What is a seller’s market? A seller’s market it when you have a large number of people interested in buying a home with not many homes on the market. It makes people act aggressively in terms of how quickly they want to buy a home and how much money they are willing to pay. In the buyer’s mind, they see a home they like and they know a lot of other people might be interested in the same home so they might buy it with only seeing it once. Whereas in a buyer’s market there are a lot of homes available with not a lot of other people looking to buy. This drives the price of your home down due to the minimal number of people looking to purchase. Having the information on what market you are in is crucial, can you hold off a year before you sell your home? It might be worth it to get that extra $5,000-$20,000 that a competitive market can bring. Finally having a realtor go over all the paperwork necessary to complete a sale is incredibly beneficial. It makes it easy having someone send you over the paperwork clearly outlining which sections need to be filled out and which sections are not necessary. Finding a realtor that you trust is very important, they will be willing to go the extra mile to ensure that you not only sell your home for the best possible price but also find your next home. They want you to be a forever client; this doesn’t mean just getting your sale they want your referral for your friends home sale or family members. They will gain this from giving you the best possible experience they can.