If you’re considering selling your home, then you may feel tempted to go the “for sale by owner” (FSBO) route – i.e. without the assistance of a Realtor. A seller’s agent typically receives a commission between 2.5 and 3 percent. That means if you sell your home for $350,000, you may part with as much as $10,500 in listing agent’s fees on the day of closing. You do not need a thoughtfully written blog post to explain what you can do with $10,500.
But we also don’t have to explain the meaning behind the immortal words of Roman playwright Plautus: You have to spend money to make money. This is to say that a selling agent’s commission is not some inconvenience which savvy home sellers avoid. A Realtor’s contributions to the home selling process aren’t just manifold. They are worth than more their price!
A Realtor Greatly Increases Your Number of Potential Buyers
Zillow. Redfin. Craigslist. The Multiple Listing Service. These are only a few of the online platforms a Realtor utilizes to market a listing to the largest possible audience. While none of these websites are exclusively used by Realtors, only real estate professionals understand how best to use them. A single mistake or omission may easily spell the difference between a motivated buyer and one who makes a hard pass.
A Realtor doesn’t solely rely on internet marketing, however. An experienced real estate professional has already cultivated a large network of interested buyers and their agents. Oftentimes a Realtor doesn’t have to advertise a home for sale at all before they produce a serious buyer!
Furthermore, most buyer’s agents categorically refuse to show FSBO listings to their clients. Although we are certain you would take a reasonable approach to listing your home for sale, many FSBO sellers make irrational demands regarding the sale of their properties, needlessly prolong the selling process, or otherwise complicate the transaction to an extent which makes dealing with them impractical. Essentially, if you go the FSBO route, the majority of potential home buyers will never become aware of your listing – much less make offers on it.
A Realtor Helps You Stay Impartial
“He who represents himself has a fool for a client.” Abraham Lincoln said this, and he was specifically referring to people who are subject to legal proceedings, but we believe the same applies to home sellers.
Here is an understatement: Your home is worth a lot of money. Even the most levelheaded home seller is susceptible to emotional thinking when so much is at stake. Although they will always keep your best interests at heart, your Realtor will never lose sight of their mission: to produce the most feasible and cost-effective solution for all parties involved with the home buying process. They will also ensure you don’t list your home for too great a price – a mismove sellers often make when they have a sentimental attachment to their homes – as well as soften the emotionally draining process of receiving multiple rejections.
A Realtor Saves You Time
Selling a house for the greatest possible price is a complicated process. Staging the home, arranging professional photography, entering all of the data on multiple websites, hosting numerous showings, following up with buyers’ agents, coordinating with inspectors, sitting down to negotiations, and countless other details all add up. To say that selling a home is a full-time job is redundant, because the simple fact that Realtors exist proves as much!
A Realtor will also save you the hassle of dealing with “tire kickers.” These are people who delight in every aspect of the home buying process with the exception of the most important one: actually buying the home. By gauging each potential buyer’s actual interest (and determining whether they actually have the means to close on the listing), your Realtor will make certain you waste no time dealing with people whose intentions don’t align with your goals.
A Realtor Is Skilled at the Art of Negotiation
No one is a complete stranger to negotiation. Anyone who has traded a Swiss roll for a chocolate milk at the elementary school lunch table has some experience in diplomacy. But sitting down at the negotiating table and walking away with the best outcome for all parties demands tact, coolheadedness, extensive familiarity with the current real estate market, and a working knowledge of every technique another skilled negotiator might use to take advantage of you. A Realtor has spent their entire career refining these skills. They are not something a layman can hope to pick up during their very first home sale!
A Realtor Shields You Against Litigation
The United States leads the world in many regards. Unfortunately, litigation is one of them. Americans spend approximately $310 billion every year on tort litigation. That’s about double the net worth of Jeff Bezos!
No Realtor wants their client to wind up in court over their real estate transaction. That is why they sheath every sale with legally binding documentation, including meticulously prepared seller’s disclosures, and make certain never to misrepresent any part of the homes they sell. Trust us: Simply conducting a home sale with absolute honesty and transparency provides no absolute protection against future litigation by a buyer. You’ve got to play by a set of fairly complicated rules when you sell real estate, and only formal training and thorough experience can teach you what those rules exactly are.
Would you like to sell your home quickly, conveniently, with minimal risk and for the highest possible price at closing? Then you must sell your home with the assistance of a great Realtor. And if you’re listing a home for sale in Detroit Lakes, MN or the wide surrounding area, that means partnering with a member of the Action Realty of Detroit Lakes team. Whether you would like to sell your lakehouse, single family home, commercial property, hunting land or farmland, then we welcome you to contact Action Realty of Detroit Lakes today!