Why You Should Hire a Realtor to Sell Your House

If you are moving and planning to put your home up for sale, you may be wondering if you should try to sell your home on your own, or hire a realtor to do it for you. Here are some real-life truths about the FSBO (for sale by owner) experience.

The most common reason to try to sell a home without the realtor is to avoid having to pay commission, and thus reap a higher profit on the home. The truth is, for 95% of the people that sell their home without a realtor, the final terms of the sale are less than satisfactory. In part, this is because most home buyers these days wisely assume that an FSBO seller is trying to save the commission. Rightly or wrongly, buyers typically reduce their offers when there is no real estate agent to pay commission to.

Pricing a home to sell is another factor that makes or breaks any home sale. Without the intimate experience in the market that a realtor has, it is nearly impossible to price a home so that it will sell within the first few critical weeks of listing, and still get top dollar from it. This part of the job is one of the most important tasks for a realtor, and one of the biggest reasons to hire one.

Just like Maryland movers can do their job more effectively than you could, Maryland realtors can sell your home more efficiently than you can. Without a realtor, your sources of potential buyers are extremely limited. A realtor can give your home exposure to many more potential buyers than you ever could, simply because of his or her title as a real estate agent. Not only will your realtor be able to provide more exposure, but he'll be able to narrow down that exposure to candidates that will make a successful sale. Many factors determine whether or not a person is a good candidate for the purchase. The price range, the amenities offered by the home in comparison with life-situation of the buyer, Whether or not the person is actively looking for a home or “just browsing,” financing, and more, all combine to determine whether or not a person could be a successful buyer. A realtor will only show your home to likely candidates whereas 95% of the people you would show your home to as an FSBO seller would not be good candidates for the purchase for one reason or another.

Another big obstacle that people run into when trying to sell their own home is that it is personal, not business. Even most people who truly think that they can be neutral in such a situation find that they cannot entirely remove their own biases and emotions from the transaction. Likewise, a potential buyer will likely be silent about concerns and objections when dealing with the home owner, but will much more easily voice those concerns to a neutral agent. Once the concerns are opening voiced, it is much easier to move past roadblocks in the sale by clarifying or negotiating issues.

There are many things you could do on your own, such as moving the furniture and house contents on your own instead of hiring Maryland movers. Likewise, although you could probably sell your home without a realtor, the truth is, it's usually worth paying someone else to do the job.