Top 3 Reasons to Work With a Real Estate Agent

At face value, the appeal of selling your own home and forgoing the services of a real estate agent is understandable; your goal is to make the most amount of money possible, so if you are not paying a real estate agent the commanded commission, you get to pocket all the profit. While this is true in theory, undertaking home buying or selling on your own may often be costlier in the currencies of time and money.  Here are a few reasons why you should work with a real estate agent.

Working with a real estate agent is more convenient.

A real estate agent’s full-time job is to be your real estate agent, whereas if you are planning on undertaking the home buying and selling responsibilities on your own, it will be your job to work as your own agent and fulfill the responsibilities of your other full-time job.  Not only are real estate agents invested in tracking down homes that fit your criteria, getting in touch with sellers’ agents, and making home-viewing appointments (saving you a tremendous amount of time and hassle), agents are also equipped to undertake the entire negotiation process, which will ultimately save you even more time (and potentially, money).

Not everyone can save money.

If you are selling your home on your own, you will likely price it based on the prices of other comparable homes in your area, many of which are being sold with the help of an agent. This means that the seller gets the keep the percentage of the home’s sale price that, in the cases of the other comparable homes in your area, would be paid to the real estate agent.

However, buyers who are looking to purchase a home sold by owners may also believe they can save some money on the home by not having an agent involved. They might even expect it and make an offer accordingly. However, unless buyer and seller agree to split the savings, they can’t both save the commission.  In short, the likelihood of you saving the amount of the agent’s commission is slim, and in the end, it may not be worth the time, energy, and hassle involved in the entire process.  

Real estate agents adhere to a code of ethics.

While not all real estate agents can be considered 100% ethical, neither can all home buyers and sellers; the difference between the ethics reserved by these two parties, however, is that real estate agents are licensed professionals governed by a strict set of rules and laws; private homeowners are not.  This means that if you find that your real estate agent is being dishonest to you or engaging in some unethical practice associated with the buying/ selling of your home, you may report them and they will be subject to more repercussions than a private buyer or seller would be.