Jun 8, 2017

Whether you’re buying or selling a home, you need an agent to represent you. Not hiring a professional can cost you a lot of time and money.

Our market is strong right now. Inventory is low, which is good news for sellers. It’s also a great time to be a buyer in certain price points because interest rates are so low. Because of this, though, I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately from both buyers and sellers asking whether they really need an agent.

Obviously I’m a little biased, but yes I do think you need an agent to buy or sell a home in our market.

For sellers, not using an agent can cost you. For example, a seller client of mine recently pointed out that one of his neighbors sold his home all by himself inside of a week. What he didn’t know is that his neighbor only sold his house so quickly because he underpriced it by about $50,000. If he would’ve used an agent such as myself to represent him, I would’ve netted him dramatically more.

As another example, I had a client once try and represent himself as his own attorney during a closing rather than pay the $600 fee for a professional attorney. Needless to say, this was a disaster. I’ve been to hundreds of closings and I buy many properties each year, and even I hire an attorney during these transactions so I have another set of eyes on what I’m doing. $600 is money well spent when it comes to what’s probably your biggest financial asset.

If you have a Picasso, you can sell it in a day at a yard sale, but you won’t get top dollar for it unless you go to an art dealer who knows how to market it. It’s no different when you’re selling a home. Us Realtors can get you the most exposure and the biggest bang for your buck. We help you net more money overall, which makes up for our small marketing fee.

On the buyer side, I always get buyers who think they can save money by going straight to the listing agent. If a buyer comes to me directly, I will refuse to work with them. To me, that’s a huge conflict of interest. I represent the seller, so my goal as a listing agent is to get top dollar for their home.

If you’re a buyer, you won’t get a better deal by working directly with the listing agent. You need a buyer’s agent working on your behalf who has a fiduciary responsibility to you. That’s what my buyer’s agents do when working with our buyers.

“YOU WILL SAVE BOTH TIME AND MONEY.”

Even in today’s market, it’s important that you use a professional. By doing so, you will save both time and money.

If you have any questions about our market or you’re interested in buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to give me a call. I would be happy to help you.