Buying or selling a home can be the adventure of a lifetime and having an experienced real estate professional to help guide you throughout the process can be invaluable. Many sellers think that they can leverage online tools and sell the home themselves (For Sale by Owner or FSBO), but engaging a professional to assist you has become even more necessary due to the projections of higher mortgage interest rates, higher home prices, and fluctuating market conditions. Here are 5 Top Reasons you should work with a professional:
Lots of Paperwork
With constantly changing regulations regarding the type and amount of paperwork required for a successful sale, having a real estate professional on your side can help you navigate each state’s individual requirements. That is worth repeating; Each state has different laws governing real estate contracts and their associated paperwork. Doesn’t it make sense to partner with someone who is familiar with what is required by law so that you are not submitting too much or not enough? Or simply the wrong, outdated material?
Home Found. Now what?!?
According to a recent study by Belton Jennings the CEO of the Orlando Regional Association of Realtors, there are 180 steps that need to take place during each successful real estate transaction. Now that you have found a house what is the next step? Were there things that needed to happen prior to finding a house? Working with a Real Estate Professional ensures that you are not overlooking any of the steps on your path to home ownership.
Negotiation
There can be as many as 11 different people or organizations that will need to be dealt with during the purchase or sale of a home. From the Appraiser, to the Inspector (yes, they are different), to the Title Company, to the Attorneys, each person or entity is crucial to the transaction and will need to be kept informed throughout the process. Add to that the potential for changing dates and timelines and you see the value in having a professional working on your behalf.
Home value
To attract the right buyers and shorten the amount of time that your house is on the market it is important that your home be priced correctly. This can be difficult for a homeowner because there is an emotional attachment. A Real Estate Professional has no such attachment and can offer a more realistic picture of the value of your home given their market experience and access to tools and resources unavailable to the homeowner.
What is REALLY going on in the market
There is a great Dave Ramsey quote which reads:
“When getting help with money, whether it’s insurance, real estate, or investments, you should always look for someone with the heart of a teacher, not the heart of a salesman.”
With all the information that can be found in the news and online (home sales, home prices, mortgage rates, etc.) how do you know what specifically applies to your market? Who is the best resource for pricing your home as you begin the selling process? Who can help you structure your offer to not offend the seller and to ensure you don’t pay too much? The answer to these (and more!) is to hire a Real Estate Professional. Don’t make the mistake of trusting one of the most important decisions of your financial life to anyone else!
–The FMT-