7 Reasons To Hire A Real Estate Agent To Sell Your Home

7 Reasons To Hire A Real Estate Agent To Sell Your Home

The expense of hiring an agent to list your home for sale is always a hot topic. For sale by owner home sales remain an extremely low percentage of the total home sales – only 8% in 2016 but, what makes hiring a real estate agent a better idea than listing your home yourself? We’re giving you 7 reasons just to give you a sample of why you shouldn’t go the FSBO route.

 

 

 

Pricing – it is important your home be priced correctly from the start to bring in the right buyers and in turn have your home on the market for the shortest time possible. An agent will give you the current market trends and comparable sales in order to provide you with a recommended list price. Remember, the market prices your home – not you and not the agent.

 

Experienced Home Staging – when listing your home for sale it needs to be presented in the very best condition it possibly can. Staged homes sell on average for 8-10% more than homes that aren’t staged and spend 73% less time on the market. Your agent can provide you with a knowledgeable stager that they already have a relationship with to help you stage your home or to do all the staging for you.

 

 

Exposure – putting a sign in the yard won’t sell a house. It takes exposure and more exposure in the form of marketing and connections with a pre-existing database. When you team up with a Realtor® not only will you receive maximum exposure you also won’t have strangers entering your home. Anyone who tours your home will be accompanied by an agent, whether it’s yours or the agent representing a potential buyer.

 

Lower Days On Market – the goal when selling your home is always the highest price in the shortest time possible. In order to accomplish that goal it takes proper planning an execution. Remember above when we went over pricing, staging, and exposure – all of these factor into lower days on the market and are something your agent will handle for you. You don’t want to be that stale listing that’s been sitting on the market for months.

 

 

Higher Sale To List Price Ratio- statistics show that homes represented by a Realtor® had an average sale price of $245,000 while FSBO’s had an average sale price of $185,000. When you hire the right agent to represent you it not only saves you time and worry it also increases your bottom line. This also goes back to proper pricing, if your home is priced correctly from the start your sale to list price ratio is going to be higher than if you start too high and have to lower it.

 

Expert Negotiation- an experienced agent negotiates for a living. Negotiation isn’t something you can get good at overnight. It takes practice and is a true skill set. Hiring an agent to negotiate on your behalf will result in someone looking at every angle of the transaction on your behalf – it’s not just about price. It’s also about contingencies, closing timeframe, and the little details.

 

Shorter Closing Timeframe- this goes back to exposure, proper pricing, and staging. When you work with an agent you’re hiring a professional to represent you. They buy and sell homes for a living and like anything else are going to be better at it than someone who doesn’t do it day in and day out. With maximum exposure, proper pricing, and attractive staging you’re setting yourself up for your home to sell faster than a house that doesn’t show well and/or is priced incorrectly.

 

 

 

With all that said, like everything else not all real estate agents are created equal. Do your research before you commit to an agent. Get referrals from friends, family, or co-workers, read online reviews about the agent(s) you interview, and work with someone you trust. Selling your home is a big decision and very likely one that revolves around your largest investment. It takes years of experience to become a local expert who knows the ins and outs of every detail of the transaction and that’s exactly who you want to team up with. 

 

 

 

 

      

 

Amanda Davidson

Amanda Davidson Real Estate Group

Broker - Owner
Licensed in VA and DC

6485 Old Beulah Street
Alexandria, VA 22315

Cell: 703.431.3755
Fax: 703.562.7057