The internet and technology have changed real estate transactions. The real estate market is not like it used to be, so if you think that you can easily sell your house totally by yourself, without any help from an realtor, it is not going to be as easy for you as you think.
Yes, I know your thinking why should I spend money on a real estate agent who normally charges 5-7% commission. And rightly so, you have been the one paying the mortgage, why use your home equity to sell your house.
But you should still consider to paying an 1% agent in order to sell your house faster and for more money in most cases. And if you are selling on your own, you will have to deal with all that legal paperwork and liabilities included.
Saving on the real estate commissions by selling your house on your own sounds really alluring, but there are many other ways that allow you to save thousands and still have the help of a real estate agent. You can find 1% realtors that can provide you the same level of services as typical 5-7% commissioned agents.
How to decide if you need real estate agent
So before deciding if you should sell house on your own ask yourself a couple of things:
Did I value of my house well?
Can I do all work of marketing and closing?
Do I know law well enough to protect myself?
Can I handle working with buyers agents?
You will have to do additional work selling on your own, you'll need to coordinate the whole selling process, you'll need to know how to deal with all that and more.
Not getting maximum value from selling FSBO is one of the most common mistakes people make when they sell houses on their own. Another mistake is when you fail to do quality marketing and don’t attract too many buyers.
Why it is better to use real estate agents
If you are not convinced yet that a 1% real estate agent will save you money and time, check this example. Imagine that you are selling $200 000 house, one percent is $2 000, six percents is $12 000. So if you use 1% real estate agent instead of a 5% agent you will save $10,000 of home equity. Another good thing about that is that you will probably get more money for house, because the agent can get the maximum value for the house.
Selling house on your own has its own advantages, but also many drawbacks. Let’s check out why people choose using real estate agents instead of selling house FSBO (for sale by owner.
- Knowledge and experience – agents work on selling house all the time, they have far more experience than you and they know how the selling process works. Also they are familiar with paperwork and all regulations
- Marketing – agents are connected with many others and they already know how to attract as many offers as possible
- Negotiation – this is the part for which you don’t need a particular education, but agents just make negotiations so much less stressful
They know what to do when whole thing starts falling apart and keep deals going
Conclusion
You don’t have to pay to 5-6% commission to agents to sell your home. Some typical agents they will try to convince you that a 1% commission realtor can’t do as good of job, but there are great 1% realtors out there that will get you top dollar for your house, and they will help you keep more your home equity in your pocket at closing. A good 1% commission realtor will save you thousands of dollars in real estate commissions!