Working with a real estate professional has many benefits when it comes to find properties during challenging times, like the ones we face today.
It becomes even more important to have an expert you trust and knows what he is doing like the ones from Marlborough Ma Real Estate to help guide you through the process. If you are considering selling on your own, known in the industry as a For Sale by Owner (FSBO), it is critical that you give it a serious thought, after considering the following:
Your family’s safety should always come first, and that’s more crucial than ever given the current health situation in the world. When you decide to do the selling yourself, it’s incredibly difficult to control entry into your home. A real estate professional will have the proper protocols in place to protect not only your belongings, but also the health and well-being of your family. From regulating the number of people in your home at one time to ensuring proper sanitization during and after a visit, to even facilitating virtual tours for buyers, real estate professionals are equipped to follow the latest industry standards recommended by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to protect you and your family.
Recent NAR studies have shown that, even before COVID-19, the first step taken by 44% of all homebuyers when searching for a home was to search online. Over the course of the process, that number increases to 93%. Today, those numbers have grown exponentially. Most real estate agents have developed a strong internet and social media strategy to promote the sale of the homes they offer.
Here are just some of the people you will need to deal with if you decide to go with the FSBO or Independent Sales format:
As part of their training, agents are trained to negotiate all aspects of the real estate transaction and mediate the emotions felt by buyers looking to make what, in many cases, will be the most important purchase of their lives.
Having a buyer who wants to buy your house is the first step. Making sure he can afford to buy it is just as important. As a FSBO, it is nearly impossible to participate in your buyer’s mortgage process. A real estate professional is trained to ask the appropriate questions and, in most cases, will be intimately aware of the progress being made toward the buyer’s mortgage commitment.
To further complicate the situation, today’s mortgage market is rapidly evolving due to the number of families out of work and in default on mortgage payments. A loan program that was available yesterday could be gone tomorrow. You need someone who works with lenders every day to ensure your buyer gets to the closing table.
The documentation involved in the sales process has increased dramatically as more and more disclosures and regulations have become mandatory. In an increasingly litigious society, the agent acts as a third party to help the seller avoid legal risk. This is one of the main reasons why the percentage of people using FSBOs has fallen from 19% to 8% in the last 20 years.
Many homeowners believe that they will save the real estate commission by selling on their own. Keep in mind that the main reason buyers look at FSBOs is because they also believe they can save the real estate agent commission. The seller and the buyer cannot save on the commission.
A study by Collateral Analytics revealed that FSBOs don’t actually save anything by forgoing agent help. In some cases, the seller may even get less money from the sale. The study found that the price difference between a FSBO and an agent-listed home was an average of 6%. One of the main reasons for the price difference is effective exposure:
“Properties listed with a broker who is a member of the local MLS will be listed online with all other participating broker websites, promoting the home to a much larger buyer population. And those MLS properties typically offer compensation to agents representing buyers, incentivizing them to show and sell the property, and again, potentially increasing the buyer pool.”
The more buyers that see a home, the greater the chances of a bidding war.
Listing on your own allows you to manage the entire transaction yourself. Why do that when you can hire an agent and still get the same amount of money? Before you decide to take on the challenge of selling your home on your own, contact a local real estate professional to discuss your options.
