Why a REALTOR®

You’ve decided to make a move. One of your first considerations is whether to sell it yourself or use a REALTOR®. Your decision will depend on your sales experience in real estate as well as your time frame. There is far more to selling a home than putting a sign in the yard and then having the right buyer knock on your door with a bona fide offer in hand. It requires specialized knowledge, a considerable amount of time and money.

Most will agree that buying and/or selling a home is one of the largest financial decisions you will ever make. Because it’s  likely the most important financial decision you will ever make, you owe it to yourself to consider using a real estate professional for optimum results. There is always the chance you will connect with a buyer driving down the street, but this is leaving a lot to luck and chance. On your own will take far more time to find the right buyer than with a REALTOR®  along with their co-operating Brokers who may, right now, be working with suitable pre-approved buyers for your home.

It can take much longer to sell your home on your own than with a REALTOR® unless your home has been drastically under priced. If it takes a lengthy time to sell, you may be inclined to take a lower offer out of fear or impatience. It will also entice the buyers to make low offers the longer a property is on the market.

REALTORS® spend thousands and thousands of dollars to attract buyers to their own listings as well as the listings of co-operating Brokers. It would never make financial sense for an individual to spend an equal amount of money to only attract buyers to their one and only property for sale. The laws of supply and demand work in favor of the REALTORS® who have many buyers for many listings.

The real estate commission covers all the costs of marketing your property and you pay nothing until your property is sold, no matter how long it may take and no matter how much time and money the REALTOR® spends to attract a buyer. You pay nothing if the property doesn’t sell.

Once you have attracted a buyer to your property you still have to sell them. The buyer is looking at every house in the area and perhaps in more than one area. You only have one house to sell. A professional real estate agent knows how to show your property to potential buyers and point out the features that are important to the buyers from an objective point of view.

As far as safety and privacy are concerned, you are opening your doors to more than just potential buyers. You will need to implement safety measures at the very least if you are going to allow people you don’t know free run of your home.

On your own, the legal side of the sale can be looked after by your lawyer, as long as you allow your lawyer to look over all paper work before arriving at a final agreement. Lawyers will only look at the legalities in the transaction, they don’t have the time to investigate the nuances of your own situation. REALTORS® are familiar with standard conditions on offers to purchase and what is necessary in an offer based on your cicumstances.

Time vs money vs peace of mind. If you have the time and like a challenge, you may save a little money at the risk of losing a little peace of mind. If time is important to you, then using the services of a REALTOR® is probably your best bet. With their specialized experience and many contacts you may not even save the money you had hoped to save by doing it on your own. If you would like to sit down and discuss your unique situation, please contact me anytime.