Many FSBO sellers think that selling a home is a piece of cake. What they don't realize is that it involves complicated and serious series of steps beginning from preparing their property for sale all the way to the delivery of keys to the new buyer. A client of mine asked me once, "Why do you need to charge so much in commission, you don't do much anyways?" My proposal to her was such, I wrote an exclusive right to sell listing agreement with the option to cancel at any time. What I requested from her was very simple. I explained to her that I am going to give her the option to cancel the listing agreement at any time if she feels like I don't do much and I charge too high. I promised that I was going to explain every step of the way to her and every negotiation and every document. She agreed. We began our client/agent relationship. To cut the long story short, at the end of the transaction, she came to me and apologized for making such a statement. She clearly understood that real estate sales involve many complicated transactions, steps, and paperwork.
The top five reasons why you need a real estate professional by your side when selling your home are the following:
1. Proper completion, execution, preparation, of all necessary documents including disclosures and other reports. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to make sure all the documents are properly prepared, executed and that all deadlines are met on time.
2. Knowledge and expertise in real estate sales and the whole process of real estate sales from A-Z. This process includes but is not limited to preparing the property for sale, marketing it, holding professional open houses, following up with potential buyers, connecting buyers with proper mortgage professionals for a smooth transaction, etc...
3. Negotiations! Negotiations! Negotiations! Need I say more? Without proper negotiation skills, the sellers might end up losing money in the process by settling for a lower purchase offer or by giving the buyers credit back for repairs. Real estate professionals are trained to negotiate to make sure the sellers get top dollar for their property.
4. Educators of today's real estate market trends and property values. Most of the time FSBO sellers would either over price or under price their properties. The real estate professional can clarify this and will be able to advise on what is the proper value of your property.
5. Knowledge and expertise in real estate news and headlines. Real estate professionals know how to analyze the current market and interpret projections. Most importantly, they know how to put it in simplest terms for the sellers to understand. It is very important to make informed decisions and it is the duty of every real estate professional to educate his/her client about the real estate market and what possible outcomes should be expected.
Overall, it is more beneficial for the sellers to hire a real estate professional than to try to sell their properties on their own. In the long run, they will save money, headache, and prevent law suits.
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