Home Sales Fundamentals: What Every Homeowner Should Know

Homeowners who plan to sell their home face a familiar dilemma. Should they sell their home by themselves or should they hire a real estate professional to handle the process?

Those who are considering a by owner sale may be thinking about doing so in an effort to try to avoid paying a real estate sales commission or because they feel they well-qualified to handle the marketing process on their own. But recent statistics show that selling by owner may not be the wisest choice.

If you a homeowner who is planning to sell your home soon, the following information will help you more clearly understand the very real benefits of relying on a skilled, full-time, real estate professional to list and sell your home.

Using an agent results in a better selling price

Recent statistics gathered by the nation's largest professional real estate organization, the National Association of Realtors®, NAR, provide clear proof that the average agent-assisted sale in 2015 had a purchase price of $240,000, compared to the average FSBO home sale of just $185,000. Reasons for this price difference may include negotiation difficulties between buyers and sellers and poor initial pricing strategies, both of which can be avoided by hiring the right real estate professional.

Using an agent is more convenient for sellers and buyers

Another very real reason to place your trust in a real estate pro when the time comes to sell a home is the convenience factor. Homeowners who choose to sell by owner are signing themselves up to be on call whenever a buyer has a question about the home or wants to see it. These requests can be very difficult to accommodate while working, ferrying children to activities, or even while grocery shopping or running errands. And if the prospective buyer calls are not answered or returned quickly, the lead can be lost, which creates even more stress for the FSBO seller.

Using an agent helps homeowners avoid safety risks

Many FSBO sellers are surprised to learn about the safety risks that go along with selling a home. A few examples of these risks include:

• allowing strangers who request to view the home inside without knowing whether they are serious buyers with the financial capacity to purchase it
• the potential for petty theft or a future burglary attempt by someone who claims to be a prospective buyer
• the risk that an unaccompanied buyer will claim to have injured themselves while viewing a home and then attempt to sue the owner
• the potential for identity theft, when an unaccompanied buyer is allowed into your home

Because real estate agents qualify their buyers and accompany them when viewing homes for sale, they help to remove these risks. When safety, convenience, and money are all on the line, partnering with a reputable, successful real estate agent just makes good sense.