Selling Your Home on Your Own or With an Agent!

The Advantages of Selling With a Real Estate Agent Verses Selling by Owner.

Using an agent can reduce the Sellers liability and can actually cut costs for the Seller.

So first off, we will talk about the marketing capabilities of a Agent. An agent has access to monthly magazines, exclusive publications, internet, MLS, newspaper ads, pictorials that are distributed to many shopping areas throughout many Counties, and word of mouth.

Some of this includes The Nevada County Association of Realtors ® meetings where other agents will be listening to your home being described. There your color flyers will be put out for all to see. There are tour days for all agents in the County to come see your home and preview for buyers.There may also be a separate tour day for your agent’s office and associates to preview as well.

The agent pays for the advertising, which can really add up, especially when you home stays on the market for a longer period of time. Most agents have a website with links that connect to view your home from your agent''s exclusive sites, or association sites. They are paying yearly and in most cases high prices to keep the websites on and current. The internet is where 75% or more buyers begin to search for their home. In this ever changing world of technology, your agent will place your home where it gets the most results.

The MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is exposing your property to all agents in your County. Some agents belong to many separate MLS services. They will expose it as little as your County or as much as the entire State of California.

Holding open houses and showing the home to people who see the sign or pick up a flyer is something that can be a time consuming and inconvenient job. The buyers often call in the middle of the day while you might be at work and want to be shown it while they are free.

The exposure to other agents is possibly the strongest advertizement for you. You don’t want one or two buyers, you want ten or more a month looking. The Buyer base that is in the combined agent’s data base ( approximately 1,000 agents just for Nevada County, 165,000 for California multiplied by 100''s of clients) is the best resource to find actively looking qualified buyers.

Take all these things and add them together and you have a solid advertising campaign that only an agent can put together for you. As a homeowner who wishes to do a FSBO ( For Sale by Owner) the advertising is much more limited and in the long run an agent will cut your costs. That is something to take into consideration. The houses are staying on the market for a longer period of time, so an agent may get you the advertisement you need to stay ahead of the game.

Next, let''s talk about the costs of not having many people look at it. You get an offer you want it to be for the highest possible amount. The more buyers, the more chance you will have a higher bid. You may not even get a showing unless your home is on a main highway, you may get showings you don''t want because they are just driving around, and some can''t afford your home ,but you may not know that for several weeks into your transaction. You won''t know if you could may have received a higher offer if more people had a chance to see it and compete for it. If you have just the one looker and one offer, that may have been settling for less.

Now let''s look at the pricing of your house. How much do you offer your house for? How much is the pool in the backyard or the new landscape actually worth? A real estate agent will help you decide the best price for your house without being emotionally involved. They will provide a CMA ( Current Market Evaluation ) that takes what the houses of similar style have sold for in your area and help price it accordingly.You may get an agent to help you with a free CMA at the beginning of selling yourself, but the key in this ever changing market is to have the agent update the price as fast as the prices are dropping. An agent that is on top of the market, tours regularly, and sees the upgrades and hidden value that a computer comparable can not tell you. Most of the comparable sales you get off Cyberhomes or other market value comparable websites, does not include differences in quality and remodels. It has sales priced with concessions included, or distressed sales included in the CMA that do not give a clear pricing picture. An experienced agent can help give you a much more accurate pricing.

The major advantage of using an agent with years in the business is their experience. It is invaluable. They will run the process through smoothly and quickly. They will work with the Buyer or Buyers agent to make an offer happen, they buffer you as a Seller from the sometimes strong aggressive bargaining of a Buyer, and making sure the documents get completed for the final close of  escrow. The contract is full of ways to save you money or cost you money if you are not familiar with the options and the fees. Sellers can loose a lot with Buyers inspections and reports. The agent knows how to negotiate or limit the sellers costs. The agent orders the inspections from vendors they are familiar with, coordinates ones to save you money, and balances appointments that have time frames you have to work within. A great agent will be at the appointments to ensure clarity of the findings and work with the professionals to bring solutions to the issues found.

Once this is done, they will need to make sure all contingencies are released and all the appropriate documents and contracts signed and delivered to escrow. They are available when you need to ask questions until the close of escrow. Your agent should care about you and make sure everything goes as smooth as possible. This in it self is quite a feat. There are so many people involved, to make sure the ball does not get dropped somewhere, this takes constant communicating. There are lenders, appraisers, termite reports and repairs, home inspectors, roof inspectors, chimney, pools, soils, wells, septic, easements, encroachments, title, natural hazard disclosures, and many more. All take time and effort to be understood and solve the issues that may occur. Here is a link to many of the disclosures required by law of all Sellers California: http://www.dre.ca.gov/pub_disclosures.html

A fact often over looked by a FSBO, is that the buyer will expect  you to drop the price because you don’t have to pay an agent''s fee! So all the time you thought you were saving money not having to pay the agent, but  the Buyer wants you to lower the price because they know you are saving the fees. You have a buyer and don’t want to loose them so you settle. Now you are doing all the work, having all the liability, and emotionally dealing with the Buyer and you still did not save anything!

I hope you consider the risks, emotional stress, and the extra time and effort you will be involving yourself in when selling by owner and not with an experienced professional agent.

Now, one last item. That  not only is an agent a benefit, but picking one that is a Realtor is an added bonus. They are the agents that pull together to form the California Association of Realtors and also the National Association of Realtors. They subscribe to continuing education, have informative newsletters, and have a code of ethics

If you’d like an appointment to meet with me for a Listing Evaluation to sell your home and market it appropriately, call me, Janet Fullmer @ 530-277-5138.

Janet Fullmer, Broker Associate, Realtor, Network Real Estate.