So, you want to sell your house and you’re thinking about doing it without the assistance of a real estate agent. You’ve looked up tips for selling your home on the internet and perhaps you can save some money. If you’re weighing the pros and cons of taking this feat on solo, we have some insight. Before we dive in too deep, we do want to preface that selling a house on your own is, indeed, hard. However, it isn’t impossible and at the end of the day, it’s a matter of if it’s worth it or not to go about the matter without hiring an agent.
Here are some of the difficulties that come alongside selling a house on your own without a real estate agent.
It’s constant work
We’re in the age of technology, which means that breaks don’t exist. People have access to the internet (your listing included) and can browse 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you want to sell your house, and do so quickly and for a good price, you’ll want to keep on top of inquiries and respond to them in a timely fashion. Checking your inbox, sorting through who is legitimate and who might be either spam or not-so-serious, and responding can take time. Not to mention, you’ll also have to schedule showings, which can be difficult and time consuming.
The marketing isn’t as intuitive as one might think
With the internet at our fingertips, there are numerous ways for people to view both your listing and everyone else’s. Do you know the best keywords to put in your description? Or how to come up with a strategy to make your listing seen? These marketing tactics are what often make or break a sale. You want your house to not only be seen by an audience, but by the right audience. Real estate agents have the training and the experience to market listings on a wide range of platforms to make sure that the property they are selling reaches the right people.
You’ll need skills to succeed
Say you have the time to list your home on all the available sources, communicate with potential buyers, and market effectively, do you feel confident in your ability to negotiate if someone makes an offer? Do you know the odds and ends of the contract? And do you have the contacts to help make your home “selling ready?” There is a huge skill set that goes into selling a home well, and it’s not developed overnight. Real estate agents have these skills and they know how to use them effectively.
We’re not saying that it’s impossible to sell your house on your own, but we are saying that after all of the time, energy, and planning that needs to go into it, the money saved on agent commission might not be as worth it as you thought.
The Cameron Team offers top tier real estate services for those looking to buy or sell a home in Cape Fear! We’re ready to work with you so that you can make the best sale possible!
NOTE: This is a guest blog post by Julia Aldrich of Homelight.
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