Should I Use A Realtor To Sell My home?

The real estate market is enormous, and real estate agents make a living, and often a good one, by helping individuals and businesses buy and sell property. When you come to sel your home, you will no doubt ask yourself 'should I use a Realtor to sell my home?

There is no compulsion to use a realtor service. Some house sellers will market their own property, thereby cutting out the middleman, in order to reduce their selling costs and keep more of the money from the sale.

Those home sellers who decide to use a realtor tend to do so because the responsibility of marketing their home, and finding potential, interested buyers with the necessary funds to buy a property, is taken over by the realtor.

That can save a lot of time and work, as well as removing some of the hassle of house selling.

So instead of erecting 'For Sale' signs, writing advertising copy and placing ads. Plus waiting for and dealing with telephone enquiries, then showing prospective buyers around, and dealing with the time wasters, all you need to do is concentrate on keeping your home clean and tidy for when the realtor brings buyers round for a showing.

But there is a downside, as there is in most situations where you pay for the convenience of others doing the work for you. You have to pay the realtor a commission on a successful sale, and that can run to quite a few thousand dollars, depending on the sale price.

Selling your home yourself does require more work on your part - all the marketing, showings and closing a deal - but it is straightforward enough to be a serious option. The internet has opened up a lot of opportunities for you to teach yourself anything you are uncertain of. It is so easy to learn about almost any subject online, certainly enough to help you sell your own home.

The main attraction to selling your own home, therefore, is not having to pay fees to a realtor.  You keep get to keep all money from the sale. You have to pay closing costs, of course, but you would do so anyway if you used a realtor. Another advantage is that having more money from a sale also gives you some flexibility in price negotiations. This is particularly relevant in a buyers market, when competition from other houses for sale means you having to consider reducing your asking price. This could be all that is needed to secure a sale.

So, do you use a realtor and get less from a sale because you pay their commission, or do you sell your home yourself, get to keep more of the cash and give yourself an edge with price negotiations.

The choice is yours.