Today, we’re going to be speaking about why is it important to hire a real estate agent to sell your home.
So, you’re a savvy seller. You’re gonna go on Google, you’re gonna find a real estate contract, you’re gonna print it out, and try to sell it. And try to, you know, try to fill out the contract. The first problem with that is one, you gotta make sure it’s a Florida contract. Second, you have to know what you’re filling out and what the clauses are. So, by the time you go on a 12 to 15 page contract, reading the contract, going over the contract, finding out you’re going to spend time, which you don’t have, because you probably have a full-time job, and you don’t have time for that. So, then you’re going to go and contract an attorney, and the attorney is going to charge you X amount of dollars to fill out this contract for you.
For the most part, they’re going to charge you fifteen hundred to three thousand dollars. Fill out the contract. Fine, they’ve got the contract ready. Now, you have to screen the buyer. You have to know if they’re pre-qualified, if they’ve verified assets, if they’ve verified income. You have to make sure that the bank that approved them actually looked at those things. So, for the most part, most big banks like Wells Fargo, like Bank of America, sometimes they don’t verify those things. They take… They trust their customer, on what the customer tells them over the phone. So, you actually don’t know if the borrower is actually qualified. That’s happened to us millions of times. A friend of mine actually went through that. So then, you’re at this point, you have a contract, you’ve paid an attorney around three thousand dollars, now, your buyer doesn’t get approved. You’ve gotta start the process over again. That’s your first scenario.
Second scenario, for sale by owner, you list it on “forsalebyowner”, and you get a bunch of phone calls. Many phone calls, everyone’s calling you. Now, you got a buyer with a real estate agent. That real estate agent is working for the buyer and buyer’s best interest, not yours. So now, you’re going against…you’re putting your life investment, because it’s probably the biggest investment you’ve ever done in your life, and you’re putting it in the hands of someone who has more knowledge than you, who understands the business, and who’s looking after their customer and not you. So, at that point, you’re at a loss.
98% of the realtors have the buyers
Third scenario, you list your property on zillow.com, you list your property on forsalebyowner.com, and you’re hoping and praying that you sell. Just because you list it on those sites does not mean that you’re gonna sell. Second, you have to list your property on the multiple listing service. Why do you have to? Because 98% of the realtors have the buyers, so because they have the buyers, that’s how you’re gonna get your property sold. So when we list the property, it goes into multiple websites over 350. So, why would you list it on two websites versus 350 websites? And the other thing is, you’ve got more exposure. If you get more exposure, you get more customers, you get more opportunity for more customers. Would you prefer to have more customers or less customers? If you have more customers, you’re going to be able to become firm on your price. If you have less customers, then you’re gonna have to break down your price for the most part, because if they make you an offer for X and no one’s calling, no one’s coming to see your property, you have nothing to compare it to. So, I believe that you’re putting yourself at risk to lose money.
I believe that was number three. Number four, how do you know your property is worth X? Did you get an appraisal done? Did you get a comparative market analysis done? Have you spoken to an agent? Did you speak with an appraiser? If you did not, you’re at risk of losing money.
So, all these things you’re doing without knowledge. That’s like me saying, “I’m gonna go build a pool, and I’ve never done it. I know I’ve gotta dig a hole, but now, what equipment am I gonna use to dig that hole? What else am I gonna need?” I don’t know those things, so I’m going in blind, and I think that’s a risk for any seller.
