Should you sell your house with a real estate agent?
There three main ways to sell your house.
1. Sell your house with a real estate agent.
2. Fix it up and sell it with a real estate agent.
3. Sell through an investor.
There are pros and cons to all of them. Right now, let’s go little bit deeper into the pros and cons of selling with a real estate agent.
Our goal is to really empower you to make the best decision. Whatever strategy you use, there are drawbacks. One of the biggest mistakes is picking the wrong real estate agent.
There are key questions you need to be asking any real estate agent before choosing to work with them. It’s not just as simple as, “Oh, we just put the house on the market. It doesn’t matter who we pick.” That is not what I’ve seen. I’ve bought and sold hundreds of houses right here in Northeast Tarrant County, and I’ve seen some agents that are awesome, that will knock your socks off. But I have also seen some agents that just absolutely destroyed the deal. What does that mean for you? Lost time. A lot of extra stress. Lost money. And when I say lost money, I’m talking about tens of thousands of dollars by picking the wrong person.
The market isn’t perfectly efficient. It’s not gonna just sort everything out. There are so many facets and somebody who’s truly skilled and knows what they’re doing is extremely valuable. How are you going to find them?
Let’s start with the benefits. Usually, a homeowner that will be moving in directly will pay the most. So an ideal person to sell with an agent, is somebody who wants a traditional sale. Someone with time to invest in the closing process. All houses have a closing process. Sometimes, you run into a sales person that’s just trying to tell you what you want to hear and it ends up hurting you.
The fact of the matter is that real estate agents are straight commissioned. The good news for you is that they have to work to get paid. But there are not a lot of incentives to do things like wait or put you in touch with somebody else who maybe is a better fit.
Homes that have been fully or partially updated do well on the market. I’m not saying that, you can’t sell a house that isn’t updated with an agent, but it may take a lot longer. And every neighborhood is different. Some neighborhoods have more of a tolerance than others. This can make the closing process more complicated if somebody is getting traditional financing for a house that needs a lot of repairs. The lender may not approve it. The appraisal can be another issue.
Now for the drawbacks of working with a real estate agent rather than an investor. This method usually takes longer than an investor purchase. There are often other challenges, including the process of getting the house ready to sell. That takes work. Showing the home to buyers, especially if you’re still living in it, is a little bit inconvenient. You always kind of have to have it ready to go. As for making repairs and upgrades, sometimes it happens beforehand, but sometimes what happens is the real estate agent will tell you, “Oh, don’t worry about it. You don’t have to do anything to it. We’re just going to list it.” But what you find out is, that based on what your home condition is, the buyers in your area, are going to choose a different house if you don’t make some repairs. There can be items that comes up in the inspection report that nobody knows about that has to get fixed. Some of it can be super expensive. When you go with an investor, you don’t have to worry about that because they’re buying it as it is.
Before you call an agent, do an honest inspection of your home. If you can’t because you’re biased and you live there, have a friend come over and be ask, “Is my home really updated to like current standards? Yes or no?”
Does your home need any repairs? When do you need to sell your home by? How long will you need to move out of your home and take care of your possessions? If your home sells faster than your new home is ready, who would you stay with?
When you finally reach out and find a real estate agent, be sure to ask the following questions.
“How long have you been in business?” That’s an important question. I’m not saying that people who are new don’t know what they’re doing, but there is no substitute for experiences.
“Are you full-time or part-time?” There some people who’ve been in the business a long time, but they haven’t done very many deals. In my opinion, what counts the most is the number of completed deals. Every deal you learn something.
“Is the real estate agent that you’re considering related to you? If yes, would a negative real estate transaction, impact your family relationship?” Maybe you don’t want to work with somebody that is your family member. It’s totally up to you. Some people pick family members and they’re really not very good real estate agents.
“What neighborhood do you specialize in?” All neighborhoods are a little bit different. Therefore it is important to make sure that you have somebody who is dialed in to your local area. Because real estate is very, very localized. If somebody doesn’t really understand your neighborhood, will that affect their ability to market it and give you advice? Ask them, “Have you helped buy or sell a house in this neighborhood in the past 12 months?” Now that’s not necessarily a deal killer. Another factor to consider is do they specialize in a certain type of house? Because selling a luxury home is different than selling a medium price home or leasing townhouses. It’s okay to specialize. Find somebody with your specialty.
“How much is my house worth in its current condition? How did you come up with that number? Based on the market in this neighborhood, how long will it take to sell my home? When we get an offer, what type of repairs, closing costs, contributions, or price reductions are possible? And then can I contact your references?” Generally, how people have operated in the past is a solid indicator of what they will do in the future.
Finally, here are the three most important things for a real estate agent, beyond market knowledge and experience.
- Do they answer the phone?
- Do they call people back?
- Do they do what they say they are going to do?
These are imperative for any professional that you hire. Make sure you fill out your team with people you know, like, and trust who are experts in their field.
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