When should you work with a Realtor?
It’s 2023 and you have so much at your fingertips - between TikTok and YouTube and free home search apps in the palm of your hand - how hard can it be? Selling a house is easy! Just take a few photos with your iPhone and post them online the same way you sell your old 10-speed bike on Facebook Marketplace, right?
Not exactly.
Below are answers to some top questions that home sellers ask when preparing to sell their home - and will help explain why working with a professional licensed Realtor is beneficial.
How much is my home worth? The number one question every seller has. It’s an incredibly important aspect of putting your home on the market. If you price it too low, you’re doing yourself a disservice and missing out on more money. If you price it too high, you’ll miss the opportunity of more buyers, more offers, better terms, and a faster sale. Your realtor will dive deep into recent sales history specific to your home and neighborhood and create a Competitive Market Analysis (CMA) to show you in detail a perfectly recommended price for your home. This is just the start - one piece of a big puzzle…
How do I get my home picture-ready? Photography is vital to a great first impression. Those buyers won’t schedule a tour of your home if they don’t love it online first. So…you’ve lived in your home for a few years and need an un-biased eye to take a fresh look around. Those tangled cords running from your TV to your outlet in the wall? Hide them! This is distracting and where eyes will go FIRST when looking at a photo of your living room. How about your beautiful family photos on every surface and wall? Replace them with art! Buyers want to walk in and imagine themselves and their own family living there, which is difficult to visualize when they are staring at photos of someone else’s family. Trash cans, cleaning supplies, toiletries… HIDE THEM! Simplicity is key. The goal is for the buyer to ask “is this home staged?” Your Realtor will hire a professional photographer to make your home sparkle online, with HD photos, video tours, virtual staging, drone videos, and even creating floor plans. Remember, this is vital to a great first impression.
How do I manage buyers touring my home? In some local markets, you will put your home on the market on a Thursday, and have 20 potential buyers asking to tour it on day one. That is stressful! Your Realtor will work with you to ensure you are prepared for the amount of activity and tour requests before your home hits the market. Only licensed Realtors will be able to schedule tours through an app that tracks information, timing, and collects feedback afterwards. Your Realtor works to mediate any issues and yield any questions that come up amidst all of the activity on your home, and ultimately alleviates that stress!
How do I know if an offer is a good one? Every state has their own Standard Agreement of Sale for Real Estate. In it, there are pages upon pages of terms. Your Realtor helps explain the details of each offer to ensure you aren’t missing anything important. These are legal documents and it’s so important to have a professional guiding you through the paperwork. Selling your home is an emotional endeavor. To keep personal emotions at bay, your Realtor will negotiate on your behalf and truly get you the best terms possible.
Why should I pay a Realtor commission? Selling your home can be stressful. You may feel overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do - such as knowing how exactly to stage your home, keeping everything clean for showings, taking care of repairs, and maintaining your lawn and garden. When you work with a Realtor, they provide direction and advice about what work is most important to attract buyers. They help price your home correctly to get you the best terms possible. They negotiate on your behalf. They handle the nitty-gritty paperwork from start to finish. They coordinate photography, showings, inspections, appraisals, final walk-throughs. They work closely with the Buyer’s agent, their lender, and the title company to ensure you get to the settlement table without a hitch. They are your trusted advisor and your advocate.
Bottom line: working with a Realtor can save you time, energy, and provide the knowledge needed to sell your home faster and at a higher price.