Some people say…”I can sell my house on my own”  why should I pay someone when I can do it my self and keep all the proceeds.

Consider this…

If you sell your house on your own, you are missing out on many things, but one of the main things is having your house listed on the Multiple Listing Service.  The MLS is accessible by all agents that are subscribers (which is 99.9% of all agents) and is the #1 way that agents find a home to show buyers.  The MLS also syndicates to many other online sites that buyers use to search for homes directly such as: realtor.com, homes.com, zillow.com and more.   Additionally, even if you advertise your home on FSBO.com, most buyers do not go to this as a source for listings because it does not show up on the first few pages of a search for a certain areas which is how buyers typically search for homes (i.e. “homes for sale in Alexandria VA).

Another thing that an agent can do for you is talk to other agents about your listing…about 20% of homes are sold before ever coming on the market because of office word of mouth.

One overlooked part of working with an agent, is that they will help you price your home within the limits of what the market will bear so that it sells within your timeframe.  They are able to look at your home from the perspective of a selling agent and ultimately a buyer.  They can also look at sales history of homes that have sold and are under contract that are in your specific geographic area and that are most comparable to your home.  We also hold brokers open houses to get agents from offices all over the city to come view the property which will accomplish two things: 1) Allow other agents to see the property and suggest it to their buyers if it meets their criteria and 2) Allow other industry experts to weigh in on the price and features and leave feedback to enhance showings and ultimately get you a faster sale

An agent will often stage your property to make it so that potential buyers can “see themselves living there”…they will also suggest potential upgrades or “fixes” that will make a difference in your sales price and amount of time on the market.  Additionally, we look for things that could potentially be a problem to potential buyers or that could hold up a settlement.

And I will say again…PRICING…any house will sell at the right price.  This also includes not pricing too low either.

We put your home on a lock box so that you do not have to be there for every showing…but only buyers with an agent can access it, so your belongings are safe.

We will holdpublic open houses and market the open house to get more prospective buyers through and give the home more visibility.

Last but not least and certainly the most important…negotiate on your behalf and protect your interests in the deal.  We make sure that you get not only the best priced contract with the most favorable terms, but also make sure that you accept a contract that will ultimately get to settlement.  We determine this based on the buyer’s contract terms and financing terms.  We also want to make sure the house appraises…cuz if it doesn’t, it can kill a deal…

This is all stuff that we work very hard at and are experienced at.  This is our job!  You wouldn’t try to perform surgery on yourself, you would go to an experienced surgeon to do it, regardless of the cost…so why would you trust your most costly asset (in most cases) to a non-professional (yourself)?

Think about what it would cost you to have your home on the market for a year instead of 2 months.  That is 10 additional months of a mortgage payment for a home that you need to get out of or do not want to be in anymore.  Consider the opportunity cost of missing out on a home that you want to purchase because you can not unload the one you have.  These things are much greater than the fee you will pay to someone to sell your property for you.

There is so much to gain from having an agent that it doesn’t make sense not to have one.

Think about it…