We live in a world of self-starters and you may feel curiosity about adopting a similar approach for your property and you are probably wondering: Do I need a realtor to sell my house? In this article, we are going to talk to you in detail about what you need to ask yourself about hiring a Realtor, and if this is a good option.
Do I need a Realtor to sell my house in Florida? hide
Questions you have to ask yourself about Realtors
Can my job interfere in the process?
Are you ready to drop everything to respond to a homebuyer showing requests whenever you’re in the middle of a meeting or working in front of a computer? We don’t think this is necessary.
Besides, you are not alone. With the average American professional working over 34 hours per week and with more than 60% of families with two working parents, the intensity of the work culture is alive and stable. Whenever personal or professional obligations interfere, you are lucky if you can squeeze anything else into your schedule.
Now, the option of listing your home and mixing work or studies can seem unrealistic, and this is why almost 88% of homeowners prefer to look for an agent to sell their home. This was very popular back in 2019.
Furthermore, you need to keep in mind that the life of real estate agents may seem easy, but the reality is different. Many people are not aware of the workload involved in selling properties, and have the wrong concepts when it comes to being an agent, and they think it is just a part-time gig.
In the following list you are going to find some of the most tedious tasks that the agents handle while you are working or taking care of your family:
- Taking calls from potential buyers.
- Staging and taking pictures.
- Scheduling and hosting house tours.
- Creating and then posting signs.
- Sharing the information on social media and the client’s network.
How much money can I sell my house for?
Many homeowners consider going solo when it comes to selling so that they can save money. If you ditch an agent, they start assuming that they can leave the commission prices at the door and generate an elevated return on their home.
Nevertheless, this is not always the case. Recent reports indicate that median selling costs of FSBO properties is much lower than those sold by agents, the difference can be determined by $24,000.
Also, researchers at a leading real estate data source known as Collateral Analytics are now owned by Black Knight. They work by looking at numerous geographic estate markets and they found that FBSOs sell their properties for 5.5% less and in many areas nearly 6% less than sales assisted by agents.
Without the assistance of an agent, you are risking losing up to 5.8% commission. If there is no agent there, many homebuyers are going to consider FSBOs as a certain win.
In addition to all those years of experience, buyers have expertise in the local market, and they know about industry transactions. Nonetheless, if you want to start getting to know the market, the first thing you need to know is what is your home’s worth.
Discover what’s your property really worth
Is it better to have an expert handling my paperwork?
Depending on the state, a real estate transaction can demand up to 180 pages of paperwork, which can be annoying for many sellers to do by themselves. Having an expert to ensure the accuracy of every paper is going to help you both save time and patience.
Mandatory disclosures are one of the worst aspects of dealing with paperwork. Even the tiniest mistake can result in the sellers being held liable for not completing the documents appropriately.
According to information provided by the National Association of Realtors, at least 30% of house sales were delayed back in October 2020 due to several obstacles related to contracts, titles, appraisals, and even financing.
Every type of document associated with each process needs to be handled with caution, and if there are mistakes or misunderstandings, they are going to have a bad impact on your goal of closing deals.
However, comprehending the paperwork is not an easy task, and this is why the services that an agent provides in most states demand an evaluation of every single document you receive.
What If I’m in a hurry?
Time is important in these scenarios, and planning the process of selling your property is not something you can fully control. Without the help of an expert, finding a buyer is going to be one of the biggest challenges for you.
Aside from their professional negotiation skills, one of the most remarkable assets an agent can bring to the table is an existing network. A top agent will always have a network of clients and prospective buyers ready to buy a dream property.
Recommendations to find the right Realtor
If you want to find the proper Realtor, there are certain things you need to keep in mind:
Never ask friends or relatives for referrals
Your friends and relatives probably don’t know a lot about real estate, and no matter how good their intentions are, they don’t understand how delicate the process is.
Be careful about your family and friends pushing someone they know on you, who magically happens to be a Realtor. What you can do is trust a professional, and some of the best ones can be found on Dluxxus. They are going to provide you with excellent marketing strategies, so you need to check them out.
This is the best you can do. After all, we are talking about your house, so why would they bother doing a research on the reputation and experience of the Realtor they want to recommend?
People want to be helpful, but this doesn’t always end up right. Just remember that asking your family and friends for help is the worst place to start with.
Narrow your search
First, you are going to need to filter potential Realtors by costs and reputation. Without a way to filter applicants, you won’t be able to choose right because there are at least 2 million licensees just in the United States, and more than 50,000 licensed real estate agents in NYC.
We want to make sure we emphasize enough on both price and reputation because you don’t want to end up with the lowest cost broker. If you do this, you are going to deal with an incompetent or an inexperienced agent.
Also, you don’t want to go for an agent with an exaggerated rate of commissions. A great way to check if an agent is reliable or not is by checking their success stories.
For instance, Dluxxus is one of the most important real estate companies in the US and if you check their website, you are going to find plenty of examples of why you should trust them.
Furthermore, they have an excellent reputation. They also offer Home Staging, which is the process of setting the stage. Basically, they make sure your house looks impeccable for potential buyers. The goal is to make the property as appealing as possible.
The main benefits of this service include:
- It makes the process a lot easier for buyers to see themselves in the home.
- The house won’t need a lot of repairs after the company is done with the home staging.
- It makes the house look better in listing pictures.
With them, the process of selling your house in Florida is going to be a lot easier.
Check the Realtor’s deal history
Presumably, one of the most important methods to prove that a Realtor has enough experience and is active within the market is to peruse his or her current deal history.
You can easily do this. All you have to do is search real estate websites in which you can find profiles for agents. Just Google the Realtor’s name and you will come across plenty of reviews as well as deal history summaries.
One common scenario is that the brokerage will have a profile page on a specific website for each agent. However, we recommend you use Zillow, which is a local real estate search website.
It’s also important to ensure that the brokerage you want to work with is busy with clients and customers. This industry is in constant evolution, so the last thing you want to deal with is hiring a Realtor who is not able to close a single transaction in at least 6 months.
Questions you can ask a Realtor
Here are some of the most relevant questions you can ask a Realtor when selling your property:
What are their credentials?
As the process of selling your house begins, at the very least you should hire an agent who has a state license and belongs to a local estate trade association. By this, you can be certain about them having access to different listing services.
On the other hand, if you want to dig deeper, you can search if that Realtor is a member of the National Association of Realtors, which requires extra training.
How many sales did you close?
Even though a real estate agent’s past sales don’t guarantee a quick sale, their track record of sales with both buyers and sellers is an effective way to let you know that they are professionals who will know how to work.
Ask them about how many clients they have worked with in the past years and about the price range of the properties they have sold.
How can you arrive at the listing price?
Not many things are as relevant to a seller as the conversation of how to put a price to their house, and your real estate agent’s capacity to land on a listing cost that is pitched at the correct level for the local market.
When a property is priced too high, it will eventually scare away potential buyers. Instead, a home priced too low might leave you with no real earnings.
What can I do to get my house ready?
Every professional agent is going to suggest you look for home staging services, or good cleaning and decluttering. Luckily, Dluxuss offers this and more. So you won’t have to worry about your house not being ready.
