Selling your home can be one of the most difficult life decisions you can ever make. Having lived there for most of your life, you grow a strong affection for the house and neighborhood. That aside, leaving behind the memories (both good and bad), and your lovely neighbors can be emotional.
However, selling your home could sometimes be the only option you have. Reasons like a work transfer, size of the home, growing family, and financial problems among others may force you to make such a decision. If your reason is financial, you may want to consider other options like signing up for a reverse mortgage. Seniors above 62 years can apply for such a loan instead of an outright sale. You can use a reverse mortgage calculator, to check how much loan you qualify for before making the move.
In addition, you need to be careful when to avoid some of the costly mistakes people make when getting a reverse mortgage. It is always important to seek professional help when making financial decisions.
If selling the home is still the only option, then there are several considerations to make including choosing whether to sell it yourself or hire a real estate agent. Unless you know how the real estate market works, it is best to rely on an experienced agent when selling your home. You may be worried about the high agency fee you need to pay after a successful sale, but it is worth it. Now here are some reasons to hire a real estate agent when selling your home.
Experience in the market
The real estate market is very tricky and requires experience to have a successful deal. With their experience, a real estate agent can professionally handle buyers with no emotions attached. If you are to sell your home by yourself, you may be emotional about the process and that can result in you making unrealistic demands and pricing. Being just a facilitator and not a direct party the agent with his/her good communication and negotiation skills and ability to read the mind of buyers, attract potential buyers’ attention.
Can get you a good deal
Most agents charge a percentage that is about 5% or 10% of the selling price. So, the higher the selling price, the higher the agency fee. This arrangement naturally motivates agents to negotiate for the best price possible in closing a deal. Many factors indeed go into pricing a home including location, age, season, and availability of amenities among others. However, a real estate agent can help you enjoy a seller market with strategic listings and avoid underpricing buyers. Being in the market and knowing how things work, they do comparable pricing to help you set a competitive price.
Helps you avoid emotional sales
As said, selling your home is a major decision, and as such, you may become very emotional about the process. The situation can lead you into making unjustified demands in pricing, or out of frustration, decide to sell it below the price. Hiring an agent will save you from all this emotional stress. Secondly, most buyers also use agents when buying a home. Imagine having to negotiate with an expert when you are virtually blank in that field. This can be very frustrating, but the same cannot happen when two experts are negotiating.
They provide expert advice and professional services
Aside from helping you to buy or sell your home, some agents also provide services like a home inspection. Others can lead the entire process including helping with the paper works. That aside, an agent can provide you with expert advice on the best time/season to list your home, pricing, and home improvement tips that can increase your home’s value, etc.
It gives you peace of mind
Selling your home involves several processes and paperwork. If you try to list and sell your home by yourself, you should also be ready to take potential buyers on home inspection when requested and answer numerous calls daily. This can be time-consuming and stressful as such a request may not favor your schedules. However, an agent would have time for all such requests since it is their professional duty. They can take buyers on home inspections, handle injuries, and all other duties, giving you some peace of mind.
They have a large network of potential buyers
One of the most important reasons to hire an agent for your home sale is that they have a large network of potential buyers. If you have a limited time to sell your home, speaking to an agent is your surest bet. Most agents have social media pages, websites, and other channels for marketing homes. They also have contact details of potential buyers, making it easier to sell the house within a short time. Agents can also share their listings with other agents when selling becomes difficult.
Take-Home
As selling a home is a critical decision, you always need to be careful with the process and seek expert advice. With an agent, you are assured of having a smooth seller market devoid of most drama and emotional roller-coaster. This is not to say that you can’t sell your home by yourself, but for the sanity of your mind, let a third party lead the process.
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