Three Reasons To Re-Think Selling Your Home Without An Agent
If the time has come to sell your home, you may be considering doing so without the help of a realtor. Usually, this option appeals to homeowners because it allows them to avoid the 6% fee that realtors typically charge. However, putting a home up "for sale by owner" is a lot harder than you might assume. Here are a few reasons you may want to reconsider that approach -- and hire a realtor instead.
Homes listed "for sale by owner" don't sell for as much.
You may not actually save any money by side-stepping the realtor, after all. There are a few reasons for this. First, your home may not be seen by as many customers (it won't be visible in as many listings without a realtor), so you won't have as many competing offers to drive up the price. Second, if the buyer has a realtor, you'll need to negotiate with them. And since they likely have better knowledge of the market than you do as a non-professional, they may undercut you and convince your home is worth less than it actually is. It's just their job -- they're getting their buyer a great deal.
Navigating real estate takes a lot of time.
You'll need to make appointments with laywers, rearrange your schedule to meet potential buyers, organize open houses, and meet with your bank several times. This can be a very time-consuming endeavor, especially when you're not experienced in selling homes and have to figure it out while you go. It's definitely a lot easier to hire a realtor to do all of this running around and paperwork for you.
There may be simple details that you overlook.
Since you don't have years of experience in real estate, you're likely to overlook some small, yet important details. Maybe you don't realize you can get $10,000 more for your home if you were just to fix the garage door. Perhaps you forget to file a certain piece of paperwork with your lawyer, and it sets back the sale process a whole week. These little mistakes can add up and lead to regrets and hassle down the line. Why not let the pros handle it -- so you can trust that everything is being done properly and efficiently?
Selling a home without a realtor is rarely the dream that many homeowners think it will be. It's more often a nightmare. If you really love learning new things and doing everything yourself, then perhaps you'll be the exception to the rule… but for most, hiring a realtor really is the wisest choice.