When it comes time for you to sell your home you have two options; you can hire a Realtor to do the selling for you or you can tackle the task of going ‘For Sale by Owner, or FSBO.’ Of course if you sell the home yourself then you will avoid the commission that is charged by a Realtor and that can equate to a good bit of money. But is it worth it? Either way you decide to go the point is to sell the home, so how do you decide what is right for you?
There are several factors that should be looked at before you decide whether or not you want to hire a Realtor or not. These factors include:
•Your time: If you plan on selling your home yourself then you need to be sure that you will have enough time to do so. Selling your home without a Realtor requires you to be at the ready in order to answer any and all questions regarding the home and be available to show the home at a moment’s notice. If your job and day allows you this freedom then you may want to consider a FSBO experience.
•Your knowledge: Selling a home is more than just agreeing with someone on price. There is a whole multitude of paperwork that must be filled out and filed as well as title searches and many other nuances involved with selling a home. If your knowledge of all of this is very minimal then it may be in your best interest to hire a professional. There is no point in trying to do it yourself and save if you are going got lose the sale due to your ignorance on the subject.
•How well you can qualify a buyer: This is a big one that many FSBO participants fail to realize. If you have a buyer that is not qualified but says that they are, your home could be tied up for several weeks before you realize what is going on. Realtors tend to pre qualify buyers so that you know an offer on your home is a legitimate one and thus less time is wasted and the home is not tied up in a ‘pending’ mode which will discourage others from looking.
•The buyers: Believe it or not, there are many buyers out there that will only work with a Realtor. This is because they like the comfort of knowing that a professional is going to oversee the sale and handle all aspects of it in a timely and accurate fashion. Sometimes going with a Realtor will actually increase the number of hits you get on your home and that usually equates to more offers and more money in the end.
When it comes right down to it whether or not you decide to hire a Realtor is a personal choice, but it is one that should be considered greatly. If you have limited knowledge of the real estate industry and limited time, then you are better off just biting the commission bullet and hiring a pro to help you get the job done right.
Author Resource:
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