If you are thinking about selling your home soon, you may have already researched local real estate agents and determined that you prefer to sell your home on your own. One of the most common reasons why homeowners make this decision is to avoid paying a real estate agent’s fee. However, these homeowners often overlook the benefits that real estate agents bring to the transaction. These are a few of the more common mistakes that homeowners make when trying to sell their own home that otherwise may be avoided with real estate agent representation.
Setting the Price too High
You understandably want to maximize your profit from the sale of your home. In addition to eliminating a real estate agent’s fee, you may also unintentionally set the asking price too high. A common assumption is that an interested buyer may make a lower offer and that this higher asking price may at least nudge the price upward. However, when the price is too high, some buyers may not even consider looking at the home. Others that like the home may think that a negotiation is too much of a hassle. Keep in mind that the longer your home sits on the market, the less appealing it may be to some buyers.
Failing to Disclose Necessary Facts
You legally must disclose specific facts about your home to a buyer. Failure to disclose those facts could nullify the sale or result in you being sued. A real estate agent can tell you which facts need to be disclosed and which aspects of your property’s history or condition may be kept to yourself without facing unintentional legal ramifications.
Marketing the Listing Ineffectively
One of the reasons why a real estate agent’s services are seen as unnecessary is because of the belief that an agent gets paid a large fee for simply listing the home on the Internet. However, real estate agents often market their listings in numerous ways. Some even have dozens of different approaches that they take and all of them are better than posting ‘I want to sell my house’ on social media. Remember that it is in your best interest to get a fast offer on the home, and approaching marketing head-on from the first day is essential.
You can see that it is beneficial to hire a real estate agent for representation when selling your home. Remember that the agent fee that you pay is actually split by your real estate agent and the buyer’s agent. Therefore, a real estate agent brings true value to your transaction and may not charge as large of a fee as you initially thought.
