The proliferation of services that help homebuyers and sellers complete their own property deals is relatively recent, and it might have you questioning whether using a property agent is becoming an antique of a bygone period. While doing the work yourself can conserve you the considerable commission rates lots of real estate agents command, for numerous, flying solo may not be the way to go-- and could end up being more expensive than a real estate agent's commission in the long run. Purchasing or offering a home is a significant monetary (and psychological) endeavor. Discover why you should not dispose of the notion of hiring an agent just yet.
1. Better Access/More Convenience
A real estate agent's full-time task is to function as an intermediary in between purchasers and sellers. This means that she or he will have simple access to all other homes noted by other agents. Both the buyer's and seller's agent work full time as property agents and they understand what requires to be done to get an offer together. If you are looking to purchase a home, a real estate agent will track down houses that satisfy your criteria, get in touch with sellers' representatives and make visits for you to view the homes. If you are purchasing by yourself, you will need to play this telephone tag yourself. This may be particularly difficult if you're looking for homes that are for sale by owner.
If you are looking to sell your home yourself, you will have to obtain calls from interested parties, response questions and make appointments. Remember that prospective purchasers are likely to carry on if you tend to be busy or do not respond rapidly enough. Alternatively, you may find yourself making a consultation and rushing home, just to find that no one appears.
2. Negotiating Is Tricky Business
Many individuals don't like the idea of doing a real estate offer through an agent and feel that direct settlement between purchasers and sellers is more transparent and permits the parties to better take care of their own benefits. This is probably true-- assuming that both the purchaser and seller in an offered transaction are reasonable individuals who have the ability to get along. Unfortunately, this isn't always a simple relationship.
If you are working with an agent, you can reveal your contempt for the existing owner's embellishing abilities and tirade about how much it'll cost you to update the home without insulting the owner. Your real estate agent can communicate your issues to the sellers' agent.
A realty agent can also play the "bad guy" in a transaction, preventing the bad blood between a buyer and seller that can kill a deal. A seller can decline a prospective purchaser's offer for any reason-- consisting of simply since they hate his or her guts. An agent can help by promoting you in difficult transactions and smoothing things over to keep them from getting too personal. This can put you in a much better position to get your house you want. The same holds true for the seller, who can gain from a hard-nosed realty agent who will represent their interests without shutting off potential purchasers who wish to niggle about the price.
3. Contracts Can Be Hard To Handle
If you choose to buy or offer a home, the deal to purchase agreement is there to secure you and ensure that you have the ability to back out of the offer if specific conditions aren't satisfied. If you prepare to buy a home with a home mortgage but you stop working to make funding one of the conditions of the sale-- and you aren't approved for the home mortgage-- you can lose your deposit on the home and could even be sued by the seller for stopping working to fulfill your end of the agreement.
An experienced property agent deals with the exact same agreements and conditions on a regular basis, and recognizes with which conditions should be used, when they can securely be removed and how to use the agreement to protect you, whether you're buying or offering your home.
4. Property Agents Can't Lie
If you are working with a certified real estate agent under an agency arrangement, (i.e., a conventional, full-service commission agreement in which the agent agrees to represent you), your agent will be bound by common law (in a lot of states) to a fiduciary relationship. In other words, the agent is bound by license law to act in their clients' finest interest (not his or her own).
In addition, a lot of real estate agents count on referrals and repeat business to build the type of clientèle base they'll need to survive in the business. This means that doing what's best for their clients should be as important to them as any specific sale.
If you do find that your agent has gotten away with lying to you, you will have more avenues for recourse, such as through your agent's broker, professional association (such as the National Association Of Realtors) or potentially even in court if you can prove that your agent has failed to support his fiduciary responsibilities.
When a buyer and seller work together directly, they can (and need to) look for legal counsel, however since each is expected to act in his or her benefit, there isn't much you can do if you discover later that you've been deceived about numerous deals or the home's condition. And having a legal representative on retainer at any time you wish to discuss potentially buying or offering a house might cost much more than an agent's commissions by the time the transaction is total.
5. Not Everyone Can Save Money
Many individuals shun using a real estate agent to conserve money, however bear in mind that it is unlikely that both the purchaser and seller will reap the benefits of not needing to pay commissions. For example, if you are offering your home on your own, you will price it based upon the price image source of other comparable properties in your location. A number of these properties will be offered with the help of an agent. This means that the seller gets the keep the portion of the home's sale price that might otherwise be paid to the property agent.
However, purchasers who are looking to buy a home offered by owners might also believe they can conserve some cash on the home by not having an agent involved. They may even anticipate it and make an offer accordingly. Unless purchaser and seller concur to divide the cost savings, they can't both save the commission.
The Bottom Line
While there are certainly people who are certified to offer their own houses, taking a glimpse at the long list of frequently asked questions on a lot of "for sale by owner" sites recommends the process isn't as easy as many individuals presume. And when you enter a difficult situation, it can really pay to have a professional on your side.