Why You Need a Real Estate Professional Today

It can be tempting, especially with how hot the housing market has been over the past two years, to consider selling your home on your own. But today’s market is at a turning point, making it more essential than ever to work with a real estate professional.

Not only will a trusted real estate advisor keep you updated and help you make the best decisions based on current market trends, but they’re also experts in managing the many aspects of selling your house.

Here are five reasons why working with a real estate professional makes sense today.

Market Trends and Market History
With higher mortgage rates, rising home prices, and a growing number of homes for sale, today’s housing market is showing signs of a shift back toward more pre-pandemic levels. When conditions change, following the trends and staying on top of new information is crucial when you sell. Importantly, real estate professionals also know market history and can analyze what's happening today against past experience (history doesn't always repeat itself). Finally, they know what this data means for you in particular, and as the market shifts, they’ll be able to help you navigate it and make informed decisions.

Maximize Your Buyer Pool
Your agent’s role in bringing in buyers is important. Real estate professionals have a large variety of marketing tools at their disposal, such as social media followers, agency resources, and the Multiple Listing Service to ensure your house is viewed by the most buyers.

Understanding the Fine Print
Selling a home requires a variety of forms, reports, disclosures, and other legal and financial documents. Also, there’s a lot of jargon involved in a real estate transaction; you want to work with a professional who speaks the language. Paperwork-wise, a real estate transaction is on par with doing your taxes, except most people are familiar with tax forms and documents. But you don't sell or buy a house every year, do you?

A Trained Negotiator
If you sell without a professional, you’ll also be solely responsible for all the negotiations. That means you’ll have to coordinate with:

The buyer, who wants the best deal possible
The buyer’s agent, who will use their expertise to advocate for the buyer
The inspection company, which works for the buyer and will almost always find concerns with the house
The appraiser, who assesses the property’s value to protect the lender

Instead of going toe-to-toe with all these parties alone, lean on an expert. They’ll know what levers to pull, how to address everyone’s concerns, and when you may want to get a second opinion.

Right-Pricing Your House
If you sell your house on your own, you may over or undershoot your asking price. That could mean you’ll leave money on the table because you priced it too low or your house will sit on the market because you priced it too high. Real estate professionals know the ins and outs of how to price your house accurately and competitively. To do so, they compare your house to recently sold homes in your area and factor in the current condition of your home. These steps are key to making sure your house moves quickly while still getting you the highest possible final sale price.

Want to learn more about what we can do to empower you as a seller? Reach out!