18 GIANT Reasons Why You Should Use A Real Estate Agent To Sell Your Home… And How You Can Save Time and Money By Tapping Into Their Resources!

GIANT Reason #1- When selling a home, you want to use the experience of an agent to prevent issues (lawsuits), sell your home for top dollar, and enter into a smooth transaction that does not flip your normal daily routines upside-down.

GIANT Reason #2-  A real estate transaction is complicated. Buying or selling a home requires disclosure forms, inspection reports, mortgage documents, insurance policies, and deeds and multi-page title documents. An agent acts as your educated guide through this complexity, which helps you avoid delays or costly mistakes that can turn into tremendous headaches.

GIANT Reason #3- The process of selling a home is time consuming. National averages show that homes stay on the market for an average of 60-90 days. Once off the market, the closing can take another 60-90 days to finalize, which means during this time-frame, your undivided time is needed if an agent is not utilized.

GIANT Reason#4- Real estate terms and processes are unique. Like anything else, if you do not know the language or the lingo, you place yourself at a disadvantage. Experienced agents - that you will face on the other side of the transaction - will also recognize this. That fact becomes a major disadvantage to someone who does not know the laws and requirements thoroughly.

GIANT Reason #5- An agent is aware of buyers’ taste during current market conditions. This means their evaluation of a marketing plan and solutions to enhance the value of your home come with experience. This could amount to thousands of dollars of lost profits, if you fail to understand the buyer’s needs and how to increase the homes perceived value before it hits the market.

GIANT Reason #6- Real Estate Agents provide objectivity. Since a home often symbolizes family, rest, and security, not just four walls and roof, home selling or buying is often a very emotional undertaking. For most people, a home is the biggest purchase they'll ever acquire. Having a concerned, but objective, third party helps you keep focused on both the business and emotional issues most important to you.

GIANT Reason #7- An agent is familiar with writing the detailed contracts involved in a transaction and ensures that they are valid and legal with no weasel clauses or loopholes.

GIANT Reason #8- The buyer is often reluctant to share their financial status with the homeowner. Using an agent allows the buyers to be more relaxed and upfront, preventing the homeowner from wasting their time with buyers who will not qualify.

GIANT Reason #9- You don’t have time to leave your job during the middle of the day to help the buyers arrange financing, nor do you have expert knowledge of the current loan market. The time and experience needed for a smooth transaction can be demanding, which is why having a full time agent working for you is ideal.

GIANT Reason #10- Negotiations of price can make or break a deal. If you are not confident in negotiating or familiar with the actual process, then you could easily under-price your home or are taken advantaged of by a smooth talker. This could cost you thousands!

GIANT Reason #11- When people view your home, their level of honesty with the homeowner will not be pure. Instead they will hold back comments and opinions. This means if a solution could easily be found for their underlying dislike, you’ll never get to present it because they fail to share it with you. Human nature does not like to offend people, especially when taste levels differ dramatically, so the interested buyer will remain silent.

GIANT Reason #12- You cannot "follow-up" as this will be interpreted as “you must be in a hurry to sell". By keeping out of the negotiations or follow-up process, your emotions and desire to sell are never seen. If they are seen and anxiousness is present, then the buyer has the upper hand during the process, especially if there are only a handful of offers on the table.

GIANT Reason #13- Many times homeowners make needless outlays to improve the property for selling. An agent's experience can save capital and reduce expenses by improving only key facets they know affect the buyer. This can easily save you thousands.

GIANT Reason #14- An agent can successfully screen potential buyers. If this is not done, you can waste tremendous amounts of time showing a home to everyone interested. Also, when the agent shows your home, rather than you, the amount of time and energy you save by not being involved in the stressful process is worth its weight in gold!

GIANT Reason #15- You may accept an insincere offer and then spend months in litigation, to free your property in order to put it on the market again. You may find buyer and seller personality conflict, thereby losing a good sale. The agent, as a third party, can diplomatically negotiate and consummate the sale.

GIANT Reason #16- The agent will enlist the services of fellow real estate sales people, giving the owner the advantage of his entire local and national sales market.

GIANT Reason #17- An agent has the ability to sell your home with comparison factors. By knowing the market and what homes in the area have sold for, he or she can use this towards your advantage. Also, when a buyer comes to look at your house and mentions the other homes they have already looked at or plan to look over, the agent can easily give them a comparison and educate the buyer on what makes your home ideal.

GIANT Reason #18- The agent will price the property to sell at a fair market figure, using figures that agents can only get their hands on easily. The average owner overprices when they initially place their home on the market, then after failure to sell, they accept a price far below the market value.