I’ve heard friends and family joke around that Ryan and I, as real estate professionals, shouldn’t need to work very hard in this market because things essentially just “fly off the shelf.” I wholeheartedly disagree with that sentiment, but it got me thinking. I realize that there are a lot of things that we Realtors do throughout your transaction that perhaps, you are not aware of. I wanted to highlight just a few of those things below. Let me know if this is helpful!
Price: First and foremost, real estate professionals work alongside you to help determine what price you should list your house for. We want to make sure that the price is not too high, not too low, but just right. And yes, it’s the goldilocks way of thinking! We do this by not only being in our market day in and day out, but by conducting research into the homes in your neighborhood, community, and county at large. We conduct a Comparative Market Analysis which outlines for you, similar homes, how much they were listed for, how much they sold for, etc. to give us an idea on what we can expect in your home sale. This is only one part of the puzzle, however. You see, we are always trying to “price to the puck.” What this means is that we want to account for the market increases in addition to those comparables that we’ve gathered for you. It’s important to choose a real estate professional who not only knows the market but who also has experience (and success) in pricing appropriately to gain strong and solid offers.
Pros/Cons to Pricing Appropriately: “Morgan, why wouldn’t I just list my house for the highest amount possible? Surely someone will pay that,” you may ask? Well, I agree with you! Our job as real estate professionals is to ensure that you get the most profit that you can reasonably get in the sale of your home. How this is accomplished though isn’t solely about pricing. It’s pricing, negotiation, communication between agents, marketing, promotions and much more! If your home is listed for $700,000 but it truly comps at $500,000, you’re doing yourself a disservice listing so high. Your home will more than likely sit on the market for a long amount of time and the dreaded, “well.. what’s wrong with it,” questions start from potential buyers.
Further, if you list your house too high, you will more than likely have to start lowering the price to attract the right buyer. This price reduction, coupled with the home sitting on the market for too long brings out those buyers who are “looking for a deal,” and they will more than likely offer you less than what you’d expect because they think you are desperate to sell. We are not a store and we do not put your home in a clearance bin, and neither should you.
Our goal is to always price your property appropriately so that you get a strong and solid offer to maximize your earned profit.
Contracts: Okay, this is one subject that makes my nerdy little Paralegal heart happy. Contracts! As real estate professionals, we are specifically trained in the drafting and presentation of our contracts. It is so very important that you have a Realtor on your side who understands the ins and the outs of the many forms that we have in our arsenal and how to utilize those forms to protect you.
Further, you want someone who can not only draft the contracts but someone who can explain just what it is you are signing. There are state required forms that you must sign and/or fill out in every single transaction. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of the different forms but again, that’s why it’s so important to have a professional on your side who can handle the “boring stuff.” After all, the end goal is for you to have that amazing back yard to entertain your friends (and best-friend Realtor, right? **cough ** cough**).
After I started this post, I realized that I could probably talk about different reasons as to why you should work with a Realtor for hours, but I think I’ll stop before you all fall asleep! One of my next posts will talk about the art of negotiation, communication, marketing, safety, recommendations and so much more!
I hope this gave you just a small glimpse into why it is so important to use a professional in the sale of your home. It’s one of the largest assets you have so why would you trust it to someone who doesn’t know what they are doing? It would be like going to your car mechanic for a tooth extraction all because he said he googled it. Okay, okay. I’m sorry, even I know that was a stretch. Ha!
Thank you for stopping by!