Eight Reasons Why Home Sellers Should Hire A Realtor: From the Trenches of AgentQ

Introduction

It’s your belief that Realtors are overpaid essentially for doing nothing, that you could save the money paid in commission and do it yourself because it's an easy job or you simply had a bad experience and you wash your hands dealing with a Realtor.

Keep in mind that all Realtors are not created equal. We all have very diverse backgrounds, expertise, communication and negotiation skills, special niches, level of education, professionalism, spiritualism, integrity and work ethic so before you are totally discourage read this article.  

Reason #1: A Realtor can sell homes for more money

Did you know  the typical home sold by an agent is higher than the a For-Sale-by-Owner who sells their home?  That doesn’t mean that every agent is going to sell your home for more money. But, the numbers do show that agents do sell homes for more.

Reason #2: A Realtor will represent your best interest

Many sellers believe that the commission is paid by both the seller and buyer and believe they’ll save money without having a Realtor. The truth is the commission is always paid by the seller. In a traditional sale, the listing agent who represents the seller controls the percentage paid to the selling agent who represents the buyer. The commission is split between the listing and selling agent.  

The seller still has to pay the commission to the selling agent and this makes this transaction even more attractive to a buyer for all the wrong reasons. This leaves the unrepresented seller without a professional Realtor who has their best interest at heart in the transaction. You are literally paying to have the best interest of the buyer represented at no cost to the buyer.

Reason #3: A Realtor can list your home for sale at the correct price

A Realtor has access to market data about recent sales and other homes on the market that can be used to price your home appropriately which are not available to the public.  

Zillow Zestimate isn’t the correct answer

Studies show that homes priced right when they’re first listed sell more quickly and for a higher price than those that linger on the market.

Did you know getting the price right is essential? It may impact your ability to sell if the buyer is using a lender/financial institution in the transaction.

For-Sale-by-Owners either overprice or underprice their homes for sale.

Why? Because there are so many complex factors that must be analyzed to determine the correct listing price. A professional Realtor can make a proper analysis of these factors to determine the correct listing price.

Reason #4: The whole process is easier when you hire a Realtor

Let me give you a concrete example. I talked to a Title Company Manager who handles For-Sale-by-Owner Closings and Realtor Closings. 

He told me that when a For-Sale-by-Owner sells their home it takes about 45 days for the two parties to sign off on the purchase contract. He said that sometimes they don’t even sign it until they sit down for the closing.

When a property is sold by a Realtor, the buyer makes an offer on the property, the seller has 3 days to review, accept and/or reject it, if the seller accepts the offer, it is signed and returned. The buyer then acknowledges acceptance of the offer. In order for the contract to be valid, it must be fully executed by the seller and buyer.

Why does this matter to you?

Have you ever heard of “Buyer’s Remorse”? It’s where a buyer makes a decision to buy your home, and then as soon as they have made that decision, they immediately begin to question the decision.

It doesn’t matter if the decision was good or bad. I’ve seen buyers get buyer’s remorse. Sometimes they freak out and change their mind.

If you have a signed contract, then they must abide by the contract. If not, they can simply walk away and you have to start the process all over again.

Now, this isn’t to say that you

can’t sell your house yourself

You probably can. There are numerous websites that will allow you to list your home for FREE. I encourage you to give it your all. But, unless you have sold a lot of homes yourself, then you probably aren’t set up, as well as a professional Realtor is. Does that make sense?

Reason #5: A good Realtor can save you 90-150 hours of your time

That is because we handle all of the work for you. We are experts at analyzing contracts, negotiating and re-negotiating terms, counter-offers, opening escrow accounts, financing, loan conditions, disclosures, contingencies, home inspections, surveys, termite inspections, roof inspections, appraisals, the title and escrow process, sewer lateral, holding open houses, current real estate laws, rent back, tenant occupied residence, rules and regulations, health & safety codes for various counties, and not to mention the new TRID rules on disclosures implemented in October of 2015.

Some people have estimated that there are 189-213 different things that an agent does to sell a home. That list is shorter or longer, depending on the property. I do know from personal experience that selling a home does take a lot of work and time.

Reason #6: A Realtor has expertise in marketing homes for sale

A Realtor has professional marketing expertise, contacts with other Realtors who work with buyers, and the support of a brokerage that can market your home more widely than you can as an individual.

A professional Realtor will market your home using the most advanced technology and marketing strategies in the real estate industry. It takes more than just listing your home on an online FSBO website to sell a home.

 Reason #7: We solve problems

That is the most important thing a Realtor can do. After all, it’s one thing to have a buyer that wants to buy your house. But, just because they decide at that moment to buy a house doesn’t mean they will.

Here is a story that illustrates this perfectly

A seller put her home on the market. The perfect buyer came along and made a full price offer for the home. The seller and the buyer signed a contract and the buyer started working on financing. The buyer ran into a problem with the financing and cancelled the contract.

Later on the seller told the story to an agent. It turns out that the problem the buyer had was completely solvable. But, the seller didn’t know how to solve it. As a result, the buyer couldn't obtain financing to buy the home.  

The agent is confident that if they had been involved

in the sale, then the buyer WOULD have

obtained financing and bought the home

Unfortunately, the seller had to put the home back on the market. It took another 5 months to sell the home. The seller had to pay an additional 5 months’ worth of mortgage payments, property tax payments, and homeowner's insurance premiums. 

In addition, she had to maintain the lawn, pay the electric bill, and maintain the property. If we add up all of those expenses, we can easily say that the lost sale cost her about $17,000.

The old story of the importance of “Knowing Where to Tap”

A huge steamship boiler system wasn't working properly. The steamship captain hired a top boiler expert to fix it.

After hearing about the problem the expert asked a few questions and inspected the boiler room. He looked at the pipes that twisted and turned every which way, listened to the boiler and all of the machinery.

He thought for a minute, reached into his tools, and grabbed a small hammer. He gently tapped one valve and “Voila” the problem was fixed. He sent a bill for $1,000 to the owner of the steamship. 

When the owner saw the $1,000 invoice he was very angry

He called the expert and confronted him about the bill. “You were only there for 15 minutes! How dare you charge me $1,000!”, he said. The expert heard him out and told him that he would send over a revised bill.

The owner received another bill the next day. The bill was itemized as follows:

Tapping the valve: $.50

Knowing where to tap: $995.50

Total: $1,000.00

Specialized Knowledge is one of the

most valuable resources in the world

Fortunately, for you, I have specialized knowledge. I know how to sell homes for more money. I know precisely where to “tap the valve” and to solve any problems that come up.

In fact, FSBO will usually make money when 

you hire a Realtor to sell your house

I know that sounds crazy. The fact that I can sell your home for more money is usually enough to pay my commission. I will analyze your sales price. I can tell you if your home is overpriced or underpriced, make the proper price assessment and/or create a bidding war frenzy to get you exactly what you want. Here is how you make money.

Hire AgentQ or a Realtor you feel confident and comfortable working with the sale of your property. I will save you countless hours chasing down surveys, handling inspections, preparing disclosures, marketing, analyzing offers to determine whether your transaction will likely close with the lender.  

What is your time worth?

If it isn’t worth anything, then you should sell your home yourself. But, I know that isn’t the case. Your time isn’t worthless! I know from personal experience that most homeowners are successful, hardworking individuals.

You have probably spent countless hours becoming skilled at your profession. I am sure that you have a lot of “specialized knowledge” in your area of expertise. An outsider might look at what you do and think it's easy. It's not. You know it and I know it.

Reason #8: A Realtor carriers Errors and Omissions Insurance

This is very important. Errors and Omissions called “E&O” for short, is the name used to describe a type of malpractice insurance coverage for real estate professionals. The coverage protects them against financial losses from lawsuits filed as a result of their work in the real estate profession.

No matter how carefully a Realtor does their job, they're at risk, even from lawsuits that may be unfounded or frivolous. Legal expenses must be paid no matter who wins in court, and those costs can be devastating to their finances.

A For-Sale-By-Owner has no E&O to cover any mistakes that they may make in the transaction. As you know, we live in litigious society. So what happens if you get sued for a mistake in the transaction? Can you afford and attorney, withstand a lawsuit, and most important can you pay a judgment rendered against you? This should be the ultimate reason if for nothing else that you hire a Realtor. 

Good luck and I wish you the best at selling your home. I'm available to answer any of your questions for FREE.

Quintella Griffin, Realtor, Ward's Realty