Real Estate Blog

There are many articles and discussions on the internet that argue over the value a Realtor when the time comes to selling your largest financial asset which is usually your home, or other real estate holdings.  When it comes to selling, many homeowners feel that they should try to sell on their own thus “saving” the commission.

Many articles and blogs will argue that a Realtor is not worth their commission because the homeowner can do the same if not a better job at selling their home.  After all, they know their home more intimately and can pitch its virtues better than any Realtor they will hire.  In today’s internet world with homeowner’s access and ability to post their home for sale on numerous websites it seems so easy to sell without a Realtor.  So why is it that there are so many Real Estate companies still in the business?  Why should you as a seller enlist the help of a Realtor to sell your home?

Well let’s just say that for starters a Realtor is a professional (assuming you interviewed and hired a top notch Realtor) who will know how to market your property to attract the largest possible buyers.  The MLS system is the best tool for that and sellers don’t have access to that.  There are some firms out there that will list a property for sale on the MLS and the sellers pays a fee for this service payable upfront regardless of whether you eventually sell the property or not.  In addition, you have to pay a commission to the buyer agent who brings the buyer to the table.  In that scenario the seller is only saving about half the commission anyway and he still has to do everything else himself.

Besides spending money on advertising and the time it consumes to do it all yourself, those other “things” that a Realtor will do are immeasurable.  They include making sure you answer the phone when a buyer calls to inquire about the property, setting up appointments for showings,  getting feedback from buyers after the showing, screening the potential buyers for credit worthiness, negotiating the price and terms, getting the proper paperwork executed if they agree to a price, forwarding the documents to both attorneys, following up to schedule appointments with attorneys and making sure all parties sign in a timely fashion, setting up appointment with the home inspector, setting up appointment with the bank appraiser (and the seller won’t have comps to give the appraiser to support the sales price; a Realtor will), following up with the bank to make sure that the loan application is going well, setting up the closing times and arranging for the final walk through.  These are the obvious mechanical steps required in selling a home and don’t even delve into what a Realtor brings to the table when a deal gets complicated, or the buyer and seller get into an impasse.  It is the Realtor who comes into play to smooth ruffled feathers, or to recommend a solution to a problem.

The best way to describe the Realtor’s job is to think of the Realtor as the conductor of an orchestra.  There are so many things to coordinate in getting a home sold, and so many people involved, that you need someone who will be overseeing the process.  A homeowner who undertakes all this must be willing to sacrifice much time, energy, and money to get it done without a professional Realtor and ironically most for sale by owners end up listing with a Realtor to sell after trying to play Realtor and finding out just how demanding and emotionally draining the process can be.  I myself have had most of my sellers during the critical negotiation phase of selling process comment that they just don’t know how I can do this job.   They are overwhelmed by the whole process.  This is why a good Realtor who knows his or her business will always be sought after and in demand to get a property SOLD.