There are many benefits to working with a real estate professional when selling your house. During challenging times, like what we face today, it becomes even more important to have an expert you trust to help guide you through the process. If you’re considering selling on your own, it’s critical to consider the following:
Your family’s safety should always come first, and that’s more crucial than ever given the current health situation in our country. When you Sell on your own, it is incredibly difficult to control entry into your home. A real estate professional will have the proper protocols in place to protect not only your belongings but your family’s health and well-being too. From regulating the number of people in your home at one time to ensuring proper sanitization during and after a showing, and even facilitating virtual tours for buyers, real estate professionals are equipped to follow the latest to help protect you and your family.
Even before COVID-19, the first step all buyers took when looking for a home was to search online. Today, those numbers have grown exponentially. Most real estate agents have developed a strong Internet and social media strategy to promote the sale of your house.
Here are just a few of the people you’ll need to negotiate with if you decide to Sell by yourself:
As part of their training, agents are taught how to negotiate every aspect of the real estate transaction and how to mediate the emotions felt by buyers looking to make what is probably the largest purchase of their lives.
Having a buyer who wants to purchase your house is the first step. Making sure they can afford to buy it is just as important. As an own seller, it’s almost impossible to be involved in the mortgage process of your buyer. A real estate professional is trained to ask the appropriate questions and, in most cases, will be intimately aware of the progress being made toward a purchaser’s mortgage commitment.
Further complicating the situation is how the current mortgage market is rapidly evolving because of the number of families out of work and in mortgage forbearance. A loan program that was available yesterday could be gone tomorrow. You need someone who is working with lenders every day to guarantee your buyer makes it to the closing table.
The documentation involved in the selling process has increased dramatically as more and more disclosures and regulations have become mandatory. In an increasingly litigious society, the agent acts as a third-party to help the seller avoid legal jeopardy.
Many homeowners believe they’ll save the real estate commission by selling on their own. Realize that the main reason buyers look at Sell on their own is because they also believe they can save the real estate agent’s commission. The seller and buyer can’t both save on the commission.
Bottom Line
Listing on your own leaves you to manage the entire transaction by yourself. Why do that when you can hire an agent and still net the same amount of money? Before you decide to take on the challenge of selling your house alone, reach out to our regional sales agents to discuss your options.