Why does a person NEED an excellent real estate agent? Why do you need a good stockbroker, doctor, dentist, teacher, or lawyer? Because your financial well being and intellectual and physical well being depend on the QUALITY of your support team. In my personal experience , I can site example after example where the sellers have benefited by having me on their team due to my marketing, preparation advice, real estate knowledge, expertise, diligence, ethics or negotiating skills. Considering the small upside cost and the large downside risk, it doesn’t make sense to NOT hire a Realtor.

Renovations/Repairs

An owner may renovate his house with the good intention of making it more presentable. However, the renovations may in fact cost the owner a sale. For example, painting a wrong colour. An experienced agent will be able to make unbiased and sound judgement as to the kind of renovation/repairs that the property needs to enhance its value.

Time Wasted

When an owner advertises his property himself, he has to deal with numerous phone calls from agents, lookers as well as a few prospective buyers. Inexperienced in handling such calls, owners will not be able to segregate them accordingly and do the necessary follow-up calls. A real estate specialist will normally qualify the callers and follow-up on genuine callers to arrange for quality appointments.

In certain situations, the owner may also under price his property especially when market conditions change rapidly. A real estate professional will be able to price the property reasonably based on the current market trends, location taking into consideration all the good points associated with each individual property. All the rules and regulations and the changing market conditions will be at his fingertips to act swiftly so that the adverse conditions will be minimized.

Follow-Up

An agent will bring the prospective buyer to a few comparable properties to help the buyer compare & contrast and make an informed decision. He can point out the good points of the property and then bring them back to the original property for a second viewing. A seller marketing the property himself will not be able to do such follow-up work and thus lose out a potential buyer to other properties which are marketed by agents.

Negotiating Power

When buyers negotiate directly with owners, they will in most case insist on a price reduction. Owners tend to indicate too much eagerness to sell and buyer assumes a ridiculous offer will work. Both buyers and sellers personalities conflict as it is often true that sellers are non-objective about the property. The owners are emotionally involved whereas a real estate specialist has empathy but does not allow emotions to thwart his objectivity.This is often why professional real estate agents do not market their own properties. They will engage another agent to market their property objectively.Whether you are upgrading or downgrading or simply changing location, a proper financial planning must be done. A real estate specialist will be able to do this important pre-planning with you and be there for you every step of the way to achieve your dream home.

Normally a property marketed by a professional agent gets sold at a higher price and in a shorter time frame. The commission is payable only if the property gets sold. No other profession offers this guarantee. It costs you nothing unless successful sale is made