5 benefits of working with Real Estate Agents
Five Benefits of Working with Real Estate Agents
The time has come. You’re ready to sell your home. You’ve spruced up each room, you’ve met a real estate agent you love, and you’re about to sign a contract with them that will entitle them to…take a percentage of the sale? Cut into your profits? Suddenly, you’re wondering why you’re paying someone whose sole purpose it is to open a door for prospective buyers when you could just do it yourself.
If the above scenario seems like something you agree with, think again. Working with a real estate agent is often a necessity to netting the top dollar amount for your home. If you think that all your real estate agent does is open a door, then it’s time to find a better one. Here are some reasons to hire a real estate professional:
They Take Emotion Out of the Picture
Having a prospective buyer come through your home and bash your décor can be heartbreaking. A real estate agent’s job is to remind buyers that even if they don’t like a paint color or a cabinet handle, these things can easily be changed. If you’re the person that a buyer is meeting when they walk through the door, you may spend their whole visit defending your choice of backsplash tile and a prospective buyer will only remember you, but not your house.
A good agent will be truthful with you about what to change in your home to get it ready for market. You likely won’t be as truthful with yourself as an outsider will. This outsider’s job is to get other people to envision themselves in your home, not to preserve your home like a museum.
You Have a Job…And a Life
Are you available 24 hours a day? Can you leave your desk for a 1:00pm appointment when someone calls at 12:30pm asking to see your home? Probably not. But you hire an agent so that you don’t have to worry about these things. Access is essential to selling a home, you can’t get an offer on your home if they can’t see it.
Furthermore, most of the work that your real estate agent does is behind the scenes. Your agent is constantly answering emails from prospective buyers with various questions about renovating, zoning, financing, etc. It is their job to be an expert on these topics, not yours. What if you give someone the wrong information about your home? Better to let the professional do their job.
Marketing Power
Most people will only sell a couple of homes in their lives, but your real estate agent will sell hundreds. A large share of real estate sales comes as the result of a professional’s previous contacts. The more property an agent has sold, the longer their list of potential, qualified homebuyers is. You can put up an open house online, but you have no way of telling if the people who walk through the door are qualified buyers or if they’re just looking for a way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Contacts in your agent’s network are likely already pre-screened and pre-approved to purchase a home.
Negotiation Prowess
There are many factors up for discussion in a deal beyond the price of a home. When is the closing date? Will the home be taken as is, or will the seller need to fix anything before closing? Is there a bank involved that will take months to grant financing, or is this an all-cash deal closing in thirty days?
A good agent understands that there are a variety of points to be negotiated and will look at every angle when drafting a purchase agreement that allows you to feel comfortable with the terms of your sale. The same way you would hire a lawyer to review your contract, your real estate agent will review your deal and your terms and ensure that you are receiving favorable conditions.
Market Knowledge
A good real estate agent is up-to-date on market trends. They know what homes on your block are selling for.They know how much your granite upgrade is worth to an outsider. They know whether making repairs will actually help fetch a higher price.
Everyone has access to the Internet now and can look up what homes in their area recently sold for. A good agent won’t just present you with data, they will help you understand and leverage it so that your home is priced and positioned in the best way possible for a sale.
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