There are many home owners out there who are thinking about selling their homes themselves.  Likewise they are many companies in the industry who boast how easy it is to sell a house on your own and how much money you will save.   There are numerous reasons to hire a professional to see your home but below is just a few of the main ones.

• Do you have the time to sell your home – Selling your home is more than just putting a sale on your yard.  If you work, will you be available when your potential buyers are available to see your home? Are you going to be ready at a drop of a hat each time a buyer comes? Will you be okay missing out on free weekends and evenings; for fear of missing a potential buyer?
• Marketing – Do you know how best to market your home? Have you created a budget for your marketing? Agents can spend upto thousands of dollars to marker their clients home.
• Contract / Counter Offers – Agents have a great deal of experience and knowledge when it comes to drafting up offers.  As the seller you will not be responsible for drafting the contract, cause the buyer will be responsible for that, but will you be comfortable with going over the offer yourself or will you need to hire a lawyer to do that in addition to the closing of the property?   Will you be able to create a counter offer on your own?
• Can you be emotionally distant? All sellers love their home, otherwise they wouldn’t have bought it in the first place.  Do you have the ability to separate your emotional attachment and love for the house when it comes time to price and negotiate with a buyer? Staying calm through the process may seem easy to do, but during the process things can become stressful.  Will you always be able to remain calm in order to make sure the sale goes through?  Keep in mind, buyers who by from the seller directly are looking for a deal and believe you will be able to offer them a great deal because you are selling on your own thus saving money from paying out a listing commission.
• Pricing – How do you plan on pricing your home? Do you know how to create a list of comparables in order to determine your homes sale price? Do you have access to the sold prices in your neighbourhood?

Overall there is so much more that an agent does in order to get your home sold for the best price and in the time frame you want.  An agent has to stay calm and collected throughout the entire process.

They have the knowledge about the market and the neighbourhood, thus allowing them to excel during the negotiation process. Keep in mind most For Sale By Owner properties do sell for less than what an agent would have the property sold for. In the end you must decide “Do I want to Sell the House to the Best of MY Abilities” or “Do I Want My House to Sell to the Best of a Professionals Ability?”

I have been getting many comments and request from my previous, 29 Ways It Pays To Work With a Realtor. Therefore I decided to elaborate on the subject.

In today’s market the popularity of selling or buying on your own is increasing due to the fact that you can “save” a ton of money.  And let’s be honest, the more money that stays in your pocket the better it is for you and your family.  I understand the logic behind this, however without a Realtor many costly mistake can happen, which may cause you to spend more than you anticipated.

As a buyer, many decide not to work with an agent directly.  They go from open house to open house, or they browse the internet looking for homes and speak with the listing agent when they want to see a property or if they have questions.  Truthfully, who better to find out about a property, than the agent who is selling it?   Many decide to purchase a home with the Listing Agent due to the fact that they believe they will get a better purchase price.

Here are some things to think about as buyer before you decide to go the “on your own” route:

• Do you have the time to look at listings each and every hour trying to find the right property? Keep in mind Realtor.com/ Realtor.ca is approximately 24 hours behind the board. Meaning if a listing comes out at 9am today, you wont see it until tomorrow.  Can you afford to miss out on the home of your dreams because you don’t want to speak to a realtor?
• The listing agent is hired to work on behalf of the seller.  If they are looking out for the best interest of the seller, who’s looking out for you?
• The listing agent is hired to work for the seller, and in regards to price, getting the highest price possible for the seller is one of their goals; therefore you have no one to negotiate on your behalf to truly get you the lowest price possible.  Also think of it this way, the listing agent gets a commission for selling the property.  If they bring the buyer (you) they get a higher commission.  The higher the purchase price, the higher their commission. Therefore there are 2 reasons why the listing agent will always try to get the highest price for the property they have listed.
• If the listing agent is there to sell the property, what type of home inspector will they refer to you? One that will do a thorough job? Or one that will provide results that will allow the sale of the home to go through?

These are just some things to consider when you are a home buyer and are thinking about doing it on your own.  Now there are some buyers who have gone this route, and have come out successfully.  Having said that, as a buyer it does not make sense to go this route.  You deserve to have someone to stand in your corner and be on your side.