Choosing A REALTOR®:Selecting the Right REALTOR® is an important step in Selling your home. A REALTOR® can assist you in many ways:
- Marketing: A Realtor will place your listing in the multiple listing service, where all agents in the market will see it, but that’s only the start. He or she will work with you to market your home, both to consumers and within the real estate community. Marketing strategies may include flyers, online exposure, “Just Listed” notices and networking with other Realtors.
- Pricing: A Realtor will compare prices of recently sold homes in your area, consider features unique to your home, and use all of his or her expertise in helping you arrive at the right price to get your home sold in timely fashion. Most will provide a Comparative Market Analysis for free. Realtors keep buyers and sellers realistic as to what market conditions really are. View similar recently sold homes in your neighborhood.
- Locating and Qualifying Buyers: When you list with a Realtor, it increases the odds that the right buyer will discover your home. And a Realtor will make sure that anybody who goes through your home will be qualified to purchase. Further, a Realtor will manage the showing process so you don’t have to.
- Negotiating: When buyers and sellers are working directly with each other, they’ll often nitpick and try to get the last word in. A Realtor serves as a buffer between the buyer and seller and takes much of the emotion out of the process. Another thing: Sellers who use a Realtor traditionally get a higher price than those who sell it themselves.
- Managing the Transaction: It’s not just about selling the house. It’s about knowing all the current regulations and staying on top of the details. Managing home sales is a tough journey even for a seasoned professional, let alone an inexperienced owner.
- Closing: Finally, there is the closing. Your Real Estate Agent can guid you through this process and make sure everything runs smoothly.
Selling On Your Own:
- Selling your own home is not an easy task. It requires a significant amount of time to study the process, understand your obligations, and do some of the complicated work that a real estate agent does every day.
Things to Avoid When Selling Your Own Home:
- As a safety precaution, only show your house to those individuals that have made a prior appointment that has been confirmed.
- Don’t price the house so low that it sells too quickly- pay for a market value appraisal by a licensed appraiser
- Hold out for a buyer who has been prequalified by a lender
- Find out your legal obligations
Some inforamtion gathered from Realtor.com