The housing market experiences ups and downs much like any other part of the economy. When the market is down and home prices are low, selling your home doesn’t even cross your mind. Alternatively, first-time home buyers can take advantage of a down market and purchase a house for a great price. When the market is hot and home prices skyrocket, selling your home suddenly sounds appealing. In this blog, we will talk about the two most popular ways to sell your house, by using a realtor and or doing this yourself.
Advantages of Using a Real Estate Agent:
1) Professional to Professional Transaction: Real estate laws are important to understand because the laws are constantly changing. Buyer’s agents will often steer clear of for-sale-by-owner properties because those deals can sometimes take longer to close since there is not a real estate professional representing the other side. 2) Time Management: Can you really be at home every time someone wants to come look at your house? Having an agent allows you to continue with your day-to-day activities without having to coordinate tours of your house, answer questions about the property by phone all day or spend your free time marketing your home on the web and social media. 3) Time Waste: Agents are skilled at finding people that really want to view your home as a potential buyer, not a neighbor that wants to check out your house or the dreamer that is not in the right financial position to purchase your home. 4) Emotional Check: Having an agent can help you check your emotions at the door. We all take pride in what we have built, the many generations that have passed through the doors of our homes and the memories we have made. Having an agent can help you be realistic in a price point and identifying what needs to be repaired or improved to increase the value of your home. 5) Huge Network: Sure, you can sell your home on Zillow, Trulia, Home Finder or even Craigslist. But even if you spend time and resources on those websites, will that be enough? An agent has a large network of resources to position your home to be viewed by a lot more people and agents than people just browsing the web looking for a home. Agents have the ability to get the word out about your house to a much larger pool of potential buyers. 6) Final Negotiations: If you are not used to selling or buying a home, you could miss some important details in the final contracts. It can actually save you time and money to let the agents sort out all the details and make sure all of the paperwork is in proper order. Agents have a pulse on the market and can tell you what terms to fight for and what terms to let the other party win.Selling Your Home Without a Realtor
1) Save Some Money: If you are comfortable with the process of selling a home you could save yourself tens of thousands of dollars by keeping the money that would normally be given as commission to the agent. For example, a $250,000 selling price on a home would produce a 6% commission for the agent, or $15,000. 2) Friendly Purchase: Around 9% of real estate transactions take place with minimal service. This means that many transactions do not require many hour of work. Forty percent of those transactions involve the seller already having a relationship with the buyer because they are a friend or family member. 3) Listing Control: As a for-sale-by-owner listing, you keep control of how your house and property are listed. By controlling the listing, you can describe the positives and put a more personal spin on the description of the house, the local amenities and the area in general. 4) Pre-Approved: Banks have become tighter and tighter on lending rules and the process of mortgage lending has seen an increase in scrutiny. If you do sell your home, it may be a good idea to demand a pre-approved mortgage letter with any written offer. 5) Professional Help: Even if you sell your home as an individual, you still may want to get a little bit of help from the professionals. Don’t forget to involve a lawyer or title company to help with the closing process. Sometimes you can even find an agent who will just take a flat fee in order to help you with the final closing of the transaction. 6) LIST, LIST, LIST: You are going to need to list your property in as many places as possible to get the most exposure available. Take time to list your property on each and every online website available. Or, research services that can work up a package deal to get you listed in multiple services at one time. We hope these helpful reminders can be of assistance to you if you are in the market to list your house soon. We at The Allen Firm handle many real estate transactions. If we can be of any help, or if you have other questions, feel free to give us a call so that we can schedule a time to address your concerns.
– The Business Team
Scott | Josh | Jeremy
The Allen Firm, PC 181 S. Graham Street | Stephenville, Texas 76401 Ph: 254.965.3185 | Fax: 254.965.6539