My personal reason why I think you should hire a Realtor rather than try to sell your house on your own is simple and abundantly obvious, that's not what this post is about.

There are things you should know before making the decision to hire a licenced realtor or take the task of selling your home on yourself. Much of what I am sharing here is stuff the Sell it Yourself hucksters rely on you not knowing. To them ignorance is more than bliss, it's $1000 a pop for many of them without any liability for the outcome of your transaction.

The reasons why a large majority of sellers hire a Realtor are slightly more involved and once you break down the components of the marketing, negotiating and contract agreement  process  that constitute a real estate transaction in Canada it is clear to see the larger gain belongs not to the Realtor, but to the home owner.

So what are the reasons then why people are willing to pay someone what in some cases could be the equivalent of an average monthly wage for some, to  do something you are being told more and more that you can easily accomplish on your own?

Here are a few to consider:

• Convenience

 If convenience were all Realtors brought to the table I would  not be in this business and I would suggest to all of you to bite the bullet and sell your own houses. Properties I myself have bought and  sold during the time I have been involved in real estate have all cost me real estate commissions to other Realtors because I know first hand the value beyond convenience in utilizing the process of licensed real estate. Even with my knowledge, the value of involving Professional Realtors is important to the bottom line.

• Professional knowledge

I love the commercials we are seeing by private non licensed companies who will put a sign on your lawn and a picture of your home on the web for anywhere from five hundred to around a thousand dollars. The ones with the shot of a woman pointing out the features of her home or a guy opening his door with a big grin and the voice caption "if you can do this you can sell your house."

A Realtor will under go hundreds of classroom hours in acquiring a license and on an ongoing bases over their career.  None of it covers showing a home. That classroom time focuses on the intricacies of real property law and the hundreds upon hundreds of things that can and do go wrong in the transaction of real property in Canada. Stuff most are unaware prior to taking their licensing courses. As you read this, somewhere out there, a classroom full of budding new Realtors are collectively saying to their instructor "holy s.h.x.t. really!! I didn't know that could happen".

The professional knowledge you are paying for assures that your sale or purchase goes through with little or no hitches. I know there are people who will tell you they sold private and there were no problems. Nine times out of ten there isn't. You probably drove to work and back last week without getting into an accident, 999 time out of 1000 or more you wont have an accident, chances are higher that you wont have a fire or flood in your home, why have insurance then?

This brings us to the next reason people hire a Realtor:

• Liability

Whether you're the buyer or the seller, a home can harbour financial liabilities, title issues, municipal issues, registry issues. structural safety and building code issues.

You don’t know the history of a buyer to any degree be it legal, criminal, or financial and should anything go awry, without an iron clad agreement of purchase and sale and the protections of a licensed Realtor's errors and omissions insurance to protect you,  you as your own representative will end up in the courts regardless of which side of the transaction you are on. Legal costs will likely outweigh anything you would have paid to a Realtor.

If a Realtor fails to perform their  due diligence and contributes to any issues arising from the sale then the liability lies with them not personally with you.

• Expedience

There is a nationwide network of over 96000 Realtors in Canada who constantly interact and oversee the movement of a majority of Canadians. At this moment tens of thousands of Canadians are looking for their next home on Realtor.ca

Realtors expose homes from coast to coast to the public and to other Realtors on one of the countries busiest websites.

It is impossible to compete against that with private marketing. A sign on the lawn, an ad in the classified section of the local paper and even a link on a for sale by owner site and Kijiji can not compete. A simple fact is most Canadian buyers are working with Realtors. What are the chances any of them are to be directing their clients to your private listing.? Slim to more likely, none. Most buyers who do seek out private listings do so on their own and they have contrary agendas to your own. They are looking to take financial advantage of your inexperience as a home seller.

• Return on investment

You have to ask yourself why someone would choose to seek out privately listed homes on their own when Realtors offer the best resources, protections and negotiating skills? Most who choose to buy private are very aware you are trying to save commission fees and odds are their offer is going to reflect that fact. Any vulnerabilities a buyer anticipates they will try to take advantage of. While the average home sold through a Realtor in my market goes for  97 percent of list price, can you honestly expect the same caliber of offers on a private listing?

At the end of the day the choice is yours to make. I personally am a fan of the for sale by owner companies that continue to come and go. Inadvertantly they are educating a segment of the public by encouraging to take on the task of selling for themself. Many people I have talked to who started out using one then switched to a licensed Realtor at some point have a healthier respect for what I do having tried to walk in my shoes themselves.

Your net return is what matters most.

If you are still convinced otherwise here are a couple videos you might want to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js7fEO7AxXk 

http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20060414/do-it-yourself-laser-eye-surgery-kit-for-100/