Selling on Your Own vs. Hiring a Real Estate Professional

When you’re weighing the decision to hire a real estate professional to help you sell your home versus just doing it by yourself, there are four key points to keep in mind that will help you make your final decision about which route to go:

1. Contracts and paperwork. Regardless of who’s doing the selling, you’re still entering into a legally binding contract with the other party when you do sell it. If you’re not using a real estate professional to help you, you’ll want to have a real estate attorney review the contracts for you so that you can be sure that your transaction is legally compliant.

2. Marketing your home. The goal of most sellers is to get their listing in front of as many qualified buyers’ eyes as possible. In this day and age, you can do a lot on your own to give your listing exposure, particularly with social media. However, did you know that there are literally thousands of websites out there that real estate professionals post your listings to if you work with them? Chances are you don’t have the time or resources to post to that many sites!

3. Pricing your home accurately. The reality is that you only have one shot to make a great initial impression. If you price your home too high when you first put it on the market, it will probably sit stagnant on the market, causing people to wonder what’s wrong with it. It’s a surefire way to reduce the amount of activity your home will see. The same is true if you price it too low. Many people like to go online to check home values, but there’s really no better way to get the true value of your home than to talk to a real estate professional (like myself). We can do a comparative market analysis (CMA) to help you discern what people would be willing to pay for your home.

4. The value of your time. A lot of folks don’t always think of how much time it takes to sell a home. Regardless of whether you sell yours on your own or if you hire an agent, there are things you’ll need to do in order to make sure the sale goes your way, like getting the property in show-ready condition. When you work with a real estate professional, they’ll handle all the particulars of the transaction for you, like scheduling showings and negotiating with the buyers and their agents. You likely have your own career to deal with, and you probably won’t be available when a buyer wants to see your home. Further still, we vet your buyers to make sure they’re qualified to actually be able to purchase the home. Selling a home is about more than just the dollars and cents—you also need to think about the amount of time you have to dedicate to the logistics.

If you have any questions about today’s topic or if you’re in need of a real estate professional to help you with your own home sale, feel free to give me a call or send an email. I’d be glad to hear from you.