Since the pandemic hit, the housing market has changed dramatically. Like most, you might be asking yourself, “Should I put my home up for sale?” And, if you are thinking of selling your home, you might also be wondering how to sell your home without an agent. If this is you, here are a few things to consider.
Think About Availability and Accessibility for Showings
Most believe that when you put your house up for sale, that it’s either a hit-or-miss experience. Especially if you’re worried about scheduling showings to interested buyers around their difficult schedules. But in today’s market, most homes are probably going to have more showing requests than there are hours in the day. When you sell your home without an agent, it’s almost impossible to handle all of these requests. A skilled listing agent knows how to handle and prioritize each request, and in return, keep the stress and disruption to a minimum.
Safety Protocols
With all the new coronavirus restrictions, depending on which state or city you’re in, there may be variations of stay-at-home orders. Regardless of whether these affect the location of the home you are selling, it’s still important to keep buyers, sellers, and agents safe. As a seller right now, you have to ask yourself if selling FSBO (for sale by owner) is really the best idea. Agents are educated on how to handle showings and know how to implement COVID-19 protocols to keep everyone safe during the entire process. They can enforce masks and social distancing, as well as sanitize surfaces and minimize overlapping appointments.
Offers and Bidding
Selling a home today can feel like winning the lottery. You might think that all you need to do is put a “for sale” sign in the yard and wait for the offers to roll in. There’s a good chance this might actually happen. But, without an agent, how do you make sense of these offers? Will you fully understand what is being offered? How do you know? With an agent you will have an experienced guide to help you make sense of things like contract forms and closing costs. Not only that, but a realtor will ensure that potential buyers follow through with their promises.
Accepting a New Offer is Only the Beginning
When selling a home, the challenge isn’t necessarily receiving offers, but ensuring that the one you choose makes it to the finish line. This is often more difficult than it seems. Wrapping up the sale of a house includes a multitude of forms and contracts, and this can be confusing most times without the help of a professional. So many things can potentially go wrong after a property goes under contract. A buyer’s financing can go sideways as underwriters continue to scrutinize files closely. This is especially true when buyers are trying to relocate and work remotely.
Understanding the complete financial process when selling a house can be extremely difficult.
A seller needs an agent that understands this process and can set expectations along the way. When you sell your home without an agent, you won’t have a professional familiar with the real estate laws and procedures to help decipher any delays or escalate issues to get resolution when needed.
Overall, when you sell your home without an agent you tend to be less prepared for:
- Management of showings
- Enforcement of COVID-19 safety precautions
- Accepting (and enforcing) offers
- Negotiating and bidding for the best possible price
- Contracts at closing
When you’re not prepared for these important aspects of the selling process, it can cause a home to lag on the market. Also, if you haven’t been properly coached on what to do to appeal to buyers you could be leaving money on the table.
Get 26% More On Your Home
According to the 2020 National Association of REALTORS® Profile for Home Buyers and Sellers, FSBOs accounted for only 8% of home sales in 2018. Furthermore, the typical FSBO home sold for $217,900 compared to $295,000 for agent-assisted home sales. While you may be trying to avoid paying commission to a listing agent, in the end you’re losing out on much more than that. When you sell your home without an agent, statistically, it’s less likely to sell and when it does, it sells for 26% less than those with a listing agent.
Yes, the market is red hot, but you shouldn’t think that your home is going to sell itself. You need to keep in mind that while most homes are selling, not all are. With so many buyers conducting their home searches online, a few poorly taken photos aren’t going to cut it. With an agent you can get the help you need to pull buyers in and ensure a great sell.
So while it may be a great time to consider selling your home, it’s more important than ever to have a real estate agent by your side.
If you’re interested in finding out your property’s value, the best place to start is by taking a look at the selling price of similar homes sold in your neighborhood as well as the asking price for those currently offered for sale. Check out this FREE tool on BestofHotSprings.com. It will provide you with a comprehensive market analysis of those properties in your area, and is a great place to start.
