National Association of Realtors reports the majority of FSBOs eventually list their home with a Real Estate Agent. This may be due to the fact that a majority of Buyers are represented by a Real Estate Agent or because an owner who is trying to sell their home may lack the expertise to price their property and fall short on marketing their home effectively. There are many reasons to list your home with a Real Estate Agent. Here are just a few:
Professional Networking
Real Estate Agents market your home to other Agents as well as to the buying public. They know when, where and how to market your home. Studies by the National Association of Realtors show that 82% of Real Estate sales are actually the result of a Real Estate Agent’s contacts such as former clients, referrals, friends, family and personal contacts. They have professional experience with vendors (such as lenders, inspectors, appraisers, etc.) who have reputations for efficiency, competency and competitive pricing.
Pricing your Property
Real Estate Agents can help you approximate the value of your home. Many homeowners do not realize how much their home has appreciated since they purchased it or they are expecting to list their home for more than it is worth in the current market. Real Estate Agents can help analyze and list your home for a price that reflects the worth of your property in the current market.
Negotiation and Confidentiality
Top producing Real Estate Agents are normally very good negotiators because unlike most Buyers and Sellers, they are able to negotiate without the emotional aspects FSBO transactions may contain. They are not messengers who simply relay messages between the two, but rather a negotiator who can deliver the wants/needs of their client in a positive light while continuing to hold their client’s information confidential. They also can objectively evaluate proposals without compromising your position. Writing and accepting Real Estate Purchase Agreements can be tricky and they are only the beginning. Still ahead are appraisals, inspections and financing deadlines that the transaction must make it through in order to close. Your Real Estate Agent can help to write a win-win Real Estate Purchase Agreement that is more likely to make it to the closing table.
Stress
Real Estate Agents can help take the stress out of selling a home. They do the leg work so you don’t have to. Selling a property can be very time consuming and stressful to people who have never sold a home before. A Real Estate Agent can help you to negotiate the contract objectively, then handle the paperwork that follows.
Experience and Education
A Real Estate Agent has knowledge, experience and an understanding of the process enabling them to guide you through the process.
Agents Act as the Mediator
Real Estate Agents act as a filter for your Buyers. They will take the inquiries on your property and sort through the people who are not serious versus those who are serious Buyers.
Knowledge of your Neighborhood
You have lived in your property for 20 years, and there is no one who knows your neighborhood better than you right? You may know that the Jones family next door take their dog Muffin for a walk everyday at 6:00am, however, this type of knowledge is not the kind of knowledge that will help you to sell your home. Real Estate Agents know imperative information when selling your property. For example, they can tell you comparable sales in your area, help find information on your property like demographics, school information, crime in the area and much more. You might know the house down the street was on the market for $350,000, but your Real Estate Agent can help you identify that it had two contracts fall through, was on the market for 149 days and it finally sold for a little less than $300,000.
Market Conditions at Time of Sale
Real Estate Agents can inform you of the current market conditions, which can have a huge impact on the tactics you might use to sell your home. For example such as the average per square foot cost of a similar home, median and average sales prices in your area, average days on the market, ratios of list-to-sold prices and other criteria.
The Kibler Group
Keller Williams Partners
www.KiblerGroup.com
KiblerGroup@kw.com
(719) 440-1145