Do I Need a Realtor to Sell My House?

One of the questions we get asked a lot is, “do I need a realtor to sell my house?”

There’s no denying that hiring a real estate agent is going to take a lot of the work of selling a home off your shoulders. That being said, realtors are costly and won’t guarantee that your home sells quickly or for the amount that you want to get.

For sale by owner (FSBO) homes accounted for 7% of the homes sold in 2020. If you’re thinking of going it alone, we’re here to tell you that it’s not just a possibility, but it might be the best way to do it.

In this post, we’re going to discuss what a realtor does, tell you some of the benefits of selling your home on your own, and give you a few tips on how to do it the right way. Keep reading and you’ll be well-equipped to decide whether to hire a realtor for your home.

What Does a Realtor Do?

First of all, a real estate agent is a licensed professional who helps people sell, buy, and rent a property. There’s no national real estate certification, so a realtor must adhere to their state’s requirements in order to work in real estate.

They should be knowledgeable in the local real estate market and have answers to questions you may have as you’re buying or selling a home. A realtor typically takes a commission on the final sale of your home, which is usually around 5%.

Some of the duties of a realtor include:

Market your property
Set a listing price
Find and show the house to qualified buyers
Helping you with paperwork
Act as an intermediary between buyer and seller
Help with the home inspection
Provide assistance during the closing process
Provide knowledge of real estate law

Pros and Cons of Hiring a Real Estate Agent

If you’re unsure of whether you should be hiring a real estate agent, it’s important to look at the pros and cons of doing so. Most home transactions still involve a realtor, but in certain situations, it might not be the best thing for you.

Pros

One of the main advantages of hiring a realtor is that it saves you time. If you want to stay out of the selling process and avoid all of the paperwork, a realtor allows you to sit back and collect the money at the end.

They also have experience negotiating house deals, so you have a good shot at getting your asking price. With knowledge of the market and access to a pool of qualified buyers, they should be able to get the best possible price for your home.

Cons

There are just as many negatives to hiring a realtor. The biggest one is that you end up paying them a substantial amount of money to do something you could do on your own. When you crunch the numbers, a 5% commission on a $300,000 home is $15,000 that you’ll be paying a realtor.

For that money, you’d think you should have your realtor’s undivided attention, but that’s not true. Your realtor will have several clients at once, which often results in conflicting allegiances. The busier your realtor is, the more likely you’ll have unreturned calls, deals falling through, and a less profitable home.

Selling a Home By Yourself

Getting a real estate agent is a knee-jerk reaction to selling a home. Selling on your own can have a lot of upsides when you start thinking about money and working on your own schedule. It may seem like a daunting task, but you’ll see that it doesn’t have to be difficult at all.

What Does It Entail?

The actual process of selling a home doesn’t need to differ that much between hiring a realtor and doing it yourself. You can make a listing and pay to put it up on a multiple listing service (MLS), to which all licensed realtors have access.

Beyond the listing, you can go through all of the same processes as a realtor would. Finding qualified buyers, showing them the house, and doing the paperwork isn’t overly difficult; it’s just a bit time-consuming.

Even if you don’t have the time or you need to sell your house fast, it can still be worth it to sell on your own. A reputable property investor can make sure you get a fair price for your home without putting you through the tedious parts of making a sale.

What Are the Benefits?

The benefits of selling on your own to a property investor are plenty. One of the most obvious is that you don’t have to pay anyone. Once you factor in the realtor commission, attorney fees, home repairs, closing costs, inspections, and taxes, selling a home the traditional way is actually really expensive.

Another benefit is when you need to sell your home fast, making a deal with an investor is better. The sale is quick and the house can be in any condition. In a traditional sale, you have to make repairs and even pay to stage the home if you want to make a quick sale.

There are countless reasons why you may need to get rid of a home: foreclosure, divorce, bankruptcy, you can’t afford your mortgage, or you inherited the property. An investor like ibuyhomes.com makes it simple and quick to close on your home.

All you need to do is go to our site and fill out our secure online form. Once we have that, we can send one of our representatives to learn more about the house: age, condition, whether it needs repairs, etc. We’ll then give you a cash offer that you can take or leave.

You get paid in one of two ways. First, you can take the full cash offer and be done with it. The other option is owner financing, which gets you a better price, but the financial paperwork will prolong the transaction.