Selling Real Estate: To Agent or Not To Agent – That’s a Big Question
By Grace on Jun 12, 2008 in New Homes
This is becoming more and more a debate. People are even selling their homes on eBay, or trying to. Very often people who have sold their own homes repeatedly believe they know all the ins and outs. How about you? Have you done this before? Are you sure you know all you need to know?
· What are the laws in your county or city that pertain to everything that needs to be done to make a legal sale? Are the laws the same in Dallas and in Houston?
· Are you on well and septic? Do you have recent certification that both are working correctly?
· Have you had any storm, flood, pest or other damage that has been repaired but is still required by law to be disclosed?
· Are you certain all the ‘clouds’ on your home title can be accounted for and taken care of? Do you even know if there ever were any?
· Do you have a certified survey, or are you required to provide one?
· Are all your property taxes in good standing?
· If you don’t want to leave granny’s chandelier in the home, what are you required to do?
Sounds like a lot of legwork and questions. It is, and they are all legitimate concerns when selling your home. Now, do you want to do all of this yourself, or hire someone to handle it for you? That is basically what you are doing when you hire a listing Realtor. The fee for the Realtor won’t seem that high when you realize all they do to keep the deal on track and prevent you from missing a step that you didn’t even realize needed taken. Don’t let inexperience crash a sale, hire a specialist! .
Your realtor is not just there to collect money and do nothing but put up a sign. If you found a Realtor that believes this is selling your home, you are allowed to end the contract and find an agent that is going to do the job. Talk to the realtor before you sign. Interview several, and find the one that clicks with you.
Go on, see what a good local Realtor can do for you.
4 Comment(s)
By Jason Graves on Jun 13, 2008 | Reply
All good points. The days of putting up a sign and waiting a couple of weeks are over. Our market in Raleigh is faring better than others but inventories are still high and creating an edge for your property against the competition is not easy. Another consideration is who you hire- Do they have enough money in their marketing budget to best serve you? Do they know how to measure their advertising efforts to know if it’s working?
I am in Raleigh, NC and I understand the TX market as a whole is doing okay. Nice blog and good luck!
By admin on Jun 13, 2008 | Reply
Thanks Jason.
Yes, our market is still doing very well. We’re actually having our best year ever.
By Alfonso on Jul 11, 2008 | Reply
Despite the fact that I am an agent, I would suggest that if you are not rushed to sell your home, if you are prepared to spend some time hosting open houses, have friends who can answer questions for you as you navigate through the sales process, and believe that your home has potential to ’sell itself’(ie, you are pricing it competitively, it has unique features, etc) then it is worth it to try to sell it yourself for a little while. If you aren’t getting any leads, then you can always call on a broker at that point. You may be able to save yourself 3-6%. And let’s not kid ourselves, the majority of agents out there don’t add that much value anyway.
By admin on Jul 11, 2008 | Reply
Alfonso,
I must say, I couldn’t agree with you more, to a certain degree anyways.
While it is true that many agents might not add much value, the MLS does. As most of us know, over 80-90% of FSBO usually end up listing with a Realtor. WHY? They have the golden key to the MLS.
We offer a service that offers the best of both worlds, MLS exposure with the ability to reserve the right to sell FSBO.