A Real Estate Professional Can Increase the Money in your Pocket!

When you’re thinking about selling your house, and you want to get the most money for it, don’t automatically assume that selling it yourself is the best way to do that. It’s true that you will cut out the fee that is paid to any third party Realtor, but this isn’t necessarily to your advantage and the reason for this is that usually a good real estate professional will be able to get more for your home than you could selling it yourself!

Having decided to at least consider allowing a Realtor to list your home, don’t just sign up with the first one you ring, or the one with the most billboards/ads in the newspaper. Their ability to market themselves doesn’t necessarily mean that they are good at selling homes, just that they’re good at convincing people to list with them. Speak to several real estate pros and really find out if they are as good as they claim to be. 

Ask the Realtors you meet with very specific questions such as how many homes they’ve had listed with them in the last 6 months, how many of those homes sold, and of direct relevance to putting more money in your pocket by using a real estate professional instead of selling your home yourself, how many of the homes they sold went for the listing price. The last question is the one that will separate the good real estate professionals from the rest, because a good Realtor will only allow you to list your home for what they know it will sell for, they won’t list it for more because they know they’ll have to come back and ask you to lower the price later. You need to know an honest answer to what your home is worth because that’s how much you can really expect to get for it, so once the Realtor gives you a figure on what your home is worth ask them if that’s what homes similar to yours are selling for in the current market. Choose the real estate professional who can show that they’re experienced and skilled enough to give direct answers to your questions and is someone you feel you can trust to sell your home.

Selling a home is a big decision and in a buyer’s market, it’s more important than ever to choose the right strategy to get the most from your property. There’s nothing wrong with selling your home yourself, but chat to a few real estate professionals first and see if they can convince you by their track record that they are worthy of your listing. What have you got to lose?