If you’re thinking of selling your house, you may be turned off by the daunting list of things you must do to prepare your home, schedule showings and close a deal. Whether you’re setting up a home, townhome or condos for sale Los Angeles, find out whether hiring a real estate agent or selling on your own is right for you.
Advantages to Using a Real Estate Agent
When you choose a real estate agent, particularly an experienced agent in your area, you’ll enjoy many benefits. First, an agent offers you a professional staging service. While you’ll have to invest in this service, you’ll enjoy stunning furniture and professional interior decorating services that make your home or condo stand out.
Next, you’ll gain access to the dynamic Multi Listing Service, which allows real estate agents from all over the country access your listing and review your information. A real estate agent handles all the showings, discusses deals and provides a safe contract for selling your property. If there’s any harsh criticism of your property, an agent can discuss these issues with you in a way that’s far more kind and constructive than the potential buyer.
Disadvantages to Using a Real Estate Agent
Of course, selling with a real estate agent means you’ll have to pay a commission. A selling real estate agent typically asks for about 3% of the asking price, which can amount to a substantial investment. If you live in an area with a particularly strong market, it may be tempting to try to keep this amount to yourself.
Benefits of Selling on Your Own
Selling on your own puts you in charge of your own destiny. You’ll keep the 3% commission that would otherwise go to the selling realtor, and you can organize and show your house however you’d like. Because you organize all showings and open house events, you can be sure to market your property exactly how you want. When it comes to the purchase negotiation, you can hear directly from your buyer or the buying agent, rather than going through a realtor.
The Dangers of Selling on Your Own
Of course, taking on all the responsibility of showing your home and dealing with negotiations isn’t always a positive feature. This amounts to an incredible amount of leg work, and is typically more difficult than it looks. Even worse, you may inadvertently create loopholes in your contract or break your own contract, which could cause a deal to fall through or for you to be sued.
While selling your own property helps you avoid the selling agent’s commission, you’ll likely still pay the buying agent’s commission. A study by the National Association of Realtors discovered that the average national price of homes sold by owner was $153,000, while the average cost of homes sold with a real estate agent was $211,000. Finally, sometimes it’s easier to accept criticism from an agent rather than directly from your potential buyers.
Finding the Best Real Estate Agent In Your Area
If you’re ready to avoid all the stress of selling your own property, look for professional and experienced real estate agents in your area. Search for Los Angeles real estate agents who are experienced selling condos, townhomes and other types of real estate quickly and effectively.
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