Why Use a Realtor®

When You Can Sell Your Own House?

 

Selling real estate is like writing – it looks easy to those who have never done it. A sign goes up in the yard, and a few weeks (or months, sometimes) the sign goes down. How hard can that be? Well, let’s just look at a typical agent’s job description.

  1. Analyze the value of your house to come up with a salable price. This entails researching the market through the local multiple listing system and court records to find what has sold that matches your property. Then a price is determined either as a cost per square foot or model type, taking into accounts the amenities and features of the home.
  2. Consult with the owner to get the house in shape. Have the gall to tell the seller that mauve walls just won’t work and to paint them all cream. Replace the carpet. Rent a storage unit and get rid of 25-50 percent of the household items out of the house to make it presentable.
  3. Construct a marketing campaign to get your house in front of enough people to attract offers from qualified buyers. And pay for the marketing up front with his/her own money. Agents spend thousands of dollars a year marketing real estate-some as much as 35% of their revenue-on newspaper ads, real estate publications, web sites, pagers, cell phones (no family plan here…the average cost is $300.00+/month) and a plethora of other expenses related to marketing real estate.
  4. Now, he/she is going to show the property at the convenience of the prospective buyer, not the agent’s schedule nor the sellers. They are, hopefully, qualified buyers-as the agent is also using his/her time.
  5. The agent now gets a contract. They must negotiate this multi-page document, laden with legal requirements (statutory and regulatory). They’re also making sure that no laws are broken, that the appropriate contract and state-required addenda are connected to it as well as negotiate the best price with the most acceptable terms.
  6. Once the contract is signed, the real work begins. Now the fulfillment of the contract has to happen. This means monitoring the terms: Is the loan on track for the buyer? Did the work crew get the inspection items fixed? Did the termite inspection pass? Oh, it didn’t? Then can the termite guy get out and treat the house before settlement? Etc., etc.
  7. In between all of this, he/she may have to attend a state-mandated continuing education course to keep up with finance, insurance, federal/state/local legislation, case studies and industry changes. Once the license is earned, you have to keep on earning it.

BOTTOM LINE. . . . WORK WITH A REALTOR®