Top 10 Reasons to Hire a Real Estate Agent
1. Education & Experience
You don’t need to know everything about buying and selling real estate if you hire a real estate professional who does. The trick is to find the right person. For the most part, all agents cost about the same. Why not hire the person with more education and experience? We’re all looking for more precious time in our lives, and hiring pros gives us that time. Take our questionnaire to ask a real estate agent.
2. Agents are Buffers
Agents take the spam out of your property showings and visits. Your agent will filter all those phone calls from lookers that lead nowhere and try to induce serious buyers to immediately write an offer.
3. Neighborhood Knowledge
Agents either possess intimate knowledge or they know where to find the market data about your neighborhood. They can identify comparable sales and hand these facts to you. For example, you may know that a home down the street was on the market for $350,000 -- an agent can tell you it had upgrades and sold at $285,000 after 65 days on the market and after twice falling out of escrow.
4. Price Guidance
Contrary to what some people believe, agents do not select selling prices. However, an agent will help advise you to make the best decision for you. An experienced agent can get you more money, faster with less hassle than you could without an agent. Sellers who use agents normally net more in their pocket when paying a commission than those who don’t use an agent. That’s why builders, developers, attorneys and millions of others who are trying to maximize profits use agents?
5. Market Conditions Information
Real estate agents can reveal market conditions that will govern your selling process. Many factors determine how you will proceed. Data such as the average per square foot cost of similar homes, median and average sales prices, average days on market and ratios of list-to-sold prices, among other criteria, will have a huge bearing on what you ultimately decide to do.
6. Professional Networking
Real estate agents network with other professionals who provide services that you will need to sell. Due to legal liability, many agents will hesitate to recommend a certain individual or company over another, but they do know which vendors have a reputation for efficiency, competency and competitive pricing. Agents can, however, give you a list of referrals with whom they have worked and provide background information to help you make a wise selection.
7. Negotiation Skills & Confidentiality
Top producing agents negotiate well because, unlike most buyers and sellers, they can remove themselves from the emotional aspects of the transaction. Good agents are not messengers, delivering buyer’s offers to sellers and vice versa. They are professionals who are trained to present their client’s interests in the best light and hold client information confidential from competing interests.
8. Handling Volumes of Paperwork
One-page deposit receipts were common years abo but today’s purchase agreements run 10 pages or more. That does not include the federal- and state-mandated disclosures nor disclosures dictated by local custom. Most real estate files average thicknesses from one to three inches of paper. One tiny mistake or omission could land you in court or cost you thousands.
9. Answer Questions After Closing
Even the smoothest transactions that close without complications can come back to haunt. For example, taxing authorities that collect property tax assessments, doc stamps or transfer tax can fall months behind and mix up invoices, but one call to your agent can straighten out the confusion. Many questions can pop up that were overlooked in the excitement of closing. Good agents stand by ready to assist. Worthy and honest agents don’t leave you in the dust to fend for yourself.
10. Develop Relationships for Future Business
The basis for an agent’s success and continued career in real estate is referrals. Few agents could survive if their livelihood was dependent on consistently drumming up new business. This emphasis gives agents strong incentives to make certain their clients are happy and satisfied. It also means that an agent who stays in the business will be there for you when you need to hire an agent again.