Selling your home? Why you should let the experts help

With all the tools available at your fingertips, the thought of a private sale can be tempting. The biggest reason homeowners use for choosing a DIY sale is that they get to keep all the proceeds from the sale. However, homes that are sold by owners usually sell for less and can be problematic for all parties involved. Many of these issues are avoided by using an expert.

Access To Superior Marketing

A private sale is only appealing until you look into the cost of marketing a property. Without relevant experience, marketing is both expensive and fruitless. It's not as simple as listing on Gumtree or popping a 'for sale' on your lawn or fence. Most homes sell faster on more property orientated websites and with targeted Facebook, print, or email ads. In markets where real estate agents have curated a community of buyers or investors, they'll also have a network of pre-approved buyers who are looking for homes and are likely going to be interested in purchasing your home.

Insight into Market Trends

Market trends determine how much you'll sell your home for and how long it will take to sell. Without these insights, you won't know what to expect or what changes to make that positively affect your sale. Your agent, however, will relay market trends to you so that it helps with expediting the sale of your property, allowing you to sell at your asking price even in more stressed market conditions.

Delegate Demanding Tasks

Unless you want to spend most of your days - Monday to Sunday, until midnight - fielding calls and emails from buyers, many of whom won't be as serious, a real estate agent is the only way forward. Most homeowners experience a breaking point dealing with buyers after only a week on the job. While having an influx of interest is critical to selling a property, real estate agents have far more experience determining whether a buyer is serious and dealing with buyer demands. Save yourself the stress and choose to list with an agent.

Guidance on Pricing

Pricing your home is the foundation of selling it. If you price too high, you're going to garner less interest; pricing too low means you could attract interest from all the wrong buyers. Agents have access to data that reveals what homes in the area have sold for, including how much above or below asking. They can talk you through this data to help you ascertain the best price for your home that will facilitate a sale. 

Deter Scammers

Unfortunately, as more homeowners choose to sell privately, scammers are increasing. These scammers usually prey on desperate or naive homeowners with extravagant cash offers and a willingness to complete the process quickly. They also aren't easy to spot as they share many traits of legitimate buyers. 

In other instances, buyers may not have the intention of scamming, but due to a lack of experience buying property, they may not know the process of getting a bond. Buyers like this waste your time and money as you wait for them to finalise a bond that may not be approved for an amount they were anticipating.  

The purpose of selling without the help of an expert real estate agent is always to save money. The opposite is usually true. Once you calculate how much money you've spent on marketing, conducting house tours, and fielding potential buyers, coupled with a number of less than stellar offers from the handful of buyers you could garner, listing with an expert looks far more appealing. Of course, at this stage, you could be out of pocket in the six-digit range, forcing you into a corner. Choose to list with an agent from the beginning to avoid this predicament.