subject: The Importance Of Real Estate Agent In Marketing Your Home [print this page] The Importance Of Real Estate Agent In Marketing Your Home
Selling a home is never easy, but during the current buyer's market in most cities a residence sale is more difficult than ever. That's why selecting the best real estate agent can make a big difference in both the price you get and the speed with which your home sells.Your first decision is whether or not you need a real estate agent. Approximately 20 percent of homes are sold without professional agents. However, most of those do-it-yourself sellers said next time they would hire a professional agent. Also, most do-it-yourself home sellers eventually hire a real estate agent to market their homes. If you choose not to hire a real estate agent you will have to do everything yourself - from answering phone calls, through showing the home to any potential buyer, to legally handling the whole sale.Although these tasks may seem formidable, your toughest job selling without a professional agent will be competing with the hundreds of other homes for sale through the local multiple listing service (MLS).Since you only have one home to sell, it can't really compete with hundreds of other homes in the MLS because a real estate agent will show at least a dozen of homes to a buyer which will fit his needs. Before deciding if you need a real estate agent to market your home, it's best to go through the procedure of selecting an agent. You will discover the specific services agents perform for home sellers and then you can decide if you need professional marketing help. Ask your friends and relatives if they can recommend you some good real estate agents. To find out if you need an agent, you should interview at least three agents who sell homes in your neighborhood. If some local agent had contacted you earlier about selling your home, make sure to include him in the selection of agents to interview. Go through your neighborhood and pay attention to "sold" signs on houses and contact the agents who represented those homes. Newspaper classified ads are another way of finding out which agents advertise homes in your neighborhood. The last step in choosing the right agent should be calling various real estate agencies and asking to talk to the manager. Then ask the manager for the name of the agent with the highest success rate when selling homes in your neighborhood. By asking to specifically talk to the manager, you avoid getting some inexperienced agent who is probably on floor duty when you call.
