With such an abundance of online information, tools, and other resources to buy and/or sell a home, more people make a decision to do a real estate transaction on their own. You might get inspired by the average days on market statistics or the bidding war that your neighbor told you about, but before you make that decision, I would like for you to consider a few factors.
Full Access and Convenience - It is a real estate agent's profession to find or sell your home, so the resources (MLS, other resources, and listings that are not advertised publicly, vendors, professional networks) and data that we have at our fingertips are greater and more accurate than what you would find on the Internet. A real estate agent will filter through listings, play "phone tag", set up appointments, act as a "buffer" for all inquiries that lead nowhere, which will give you back your time and sanity.
Knowledge and Experience - Why spend all your free time researching real estate, when you can hire a professional that has the education and expertise, has to keep up with new rules and regulations by law in order to keep his/her license active, and has specific knowledge on real estate buzz or where to find data on crimes, schools, demographics. It is our job to stay on top of market conditions, neighborhood knowledge, and comparable data (average price per sq. ft, median and average sale price, list-to-sold ratios), which will drive your decision making and price.
Negotiating and Pricing - A very important part of our job is to negotiate the best possible deal for our clients. We are not messengers for your offers, we are professionally trained negotiators that are bound by license law (under an agency agreement), to act in your best interest. Real estate agents do not set the price for you, a good real estate agent will guide and advise you to make the right choice. We will provide market supply and demand conditions, and develop negotiating and pricing strategy.
Paperwork, Paperwork, Paperwork - With all the disclosures and addendums your typical packet can be over 60 pages or 1 to 3 inches of paper! And not to scare you too much but one little mistake or omission can result in legal troubles and thousands of dollars in fees. And don't forget about the closing itself, there are lots of things that can be overlooked during the excitement of finding your "It" home.
How much $$$ are you actually saving - A Seller's main objective is to get the most money, and a buyer's is to spend the least. So in a "For-Sale-By-Owner" transaction, a house is sold at the same price as other comparables in the area, and a seller is saving his/her commission.... However, buyers know that and will drive the price down accordingly. It is very rare that both sides, buyers and sellers, win. Also, consider time that you will have to spent for calls, appointments, showings or searches. Unnecessary money that you might spend on improvements that might not even be needed. And of course the lack of data, market, and other tools that are so necessary to conduct a successful negotiation.
Ultimately, we all want the best for ourselves and while some of you can certainly handle a "For-Sale-By-Owner" transaction, most of us are smarter with our time :)
If you find yourself in a difficult situation or feeling even a bit overwhelmed, please reach out to a real estate professional, ME :)
I welcome your thoughts, suggestions, comments and stay tuned for more.
www.ritzhomesrealty.com
(Sources: Business Insider, MSN, Trulia)
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