When To Call A Listing Agent

By Matt Unangst, 23 Jan 16:22

• There are some tasks you can complete on your own prior to calling an agent
• Think about how much time and work you are willing to put into selling your home yourself to determine your need for an agent
• From your estimation, figure out if you need an agent or not. If you do, figure out when

Real estate agents can be invaluable when you are trying to sell your home. They do a huge amount of work to make sure that it gets sold. But you can sometimes do some of this work on your own, even if you plan on using an agent later in the selling process.

One of the best things you can do to help sell your home is to clean it up. An agent won’t help you with this anyway, so you are on your own either way. Houses that look shiny and new sell far better than houses that look old and dingy. Take some time to make your home as beautiful as possible before any potential sellers come to view it.

There are tasks that are usually carried out by real estate agents which you can do yourself as well. You can do a simple valuation of your home by comparing it to other homes listed in your neighborhood. A perusal of the real estate listings in the local newspaper can give you a rough estimate of what kind of sale price you can expect to get for your own home.

You can also do some of your own pre-marketing. Talk to everyone you know about your plans to sell your home. The person you talk to might be looking themselves, or more likely, knows someone else who might want to move to the area. Finding a buyer this way can save you the agent commissions you would pay if an agent handled the process for you.

Figure out how you want to show the house early on. If you are willing to show it yourself, you can avoid hiring an agent, but many people want an agent to show their home.

One of the most distressing parts of selling a home is dealing with the offers you get for it. The negotiation process can be tricky, so many people prefer to have an agent handle it for them, but others do just fine without any help

Before deciding what path you are going to take in selling your home, you must first decide the amount of time and work you are willing to put into the sale. If you are short on time, you may not be able to complete all of the necessary tasks alone, so hiring an agent to handle the sale would probably be the best choice for you. The same thing goes if you find the amount of work involved in selling a home prohibitive. There is always the option to complete some of the work yourself and hire an agent to do the rest.

Whatever you choose to do, you can make it work. Agents can provide valuable advice and assistance in selling a home, but a motivated buyer can complete many of the tasks necessary him/herself. Make the right decision for your own situation.

KEYWORDS: FSBO selling a home, real estate, pre-marketing, home sales

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