Agent Pros & Cons

The Pros and Cons of Engaging a Real Estate Agent.

You have decided that it is time to sell. Are you supposed to hire an agent to sell your home, or will you use the sell my house myself method? Want to pay big commissions? How long will you wait to receive an offer at the house? How much time does it take to close? Which kind of reparations do you intend to make? What does the house look like when I leave in the morning for work? Are you available with 24-hour notice to show your room or less?

Commissions Fees and Advertising Costs

Agents are paid a percentage of the house's sale price, so the more your property is worth, the more you will pay them. When you do not use an agent, no fees would be paid to the agent of a buyer or seller. That means saving thousands of dollars! The normal commission is 3 per cent per hand, and if you're selling the house for $400,000, you'd have to pay $24,000 in commissions alone, along with the closing fees for the typical seller and any potential transaction fees for the closing agent and the real estate agents. Generally, real estate developers do not charge commission or transaction fees, and when they do, it's relatively small in comparison. 

Time Frame to Advertise and Sell

Real estate agents have access to the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS, which allows you to find your property in searches for certain property features. That may sound fantastic, but for how long will it be sitting on the market? How easily do you get the offers? Usually, real estate investors and other direct house buyers have a network of other house buyers, and if your property does not suit their portfolio, it may match one of the portfolios of their colleagues. That means, anyway, the very limited waiting time for an offer. Also, when you sell your house to home buyers they normally close faster than conventional house buyers, and generally in cash full pay. Traditional house purchases usually require bank qualifications, mortgage underwriting time, property inspection and the buyer may not eventually qualify.

Repairs to the property & Inspections

Professional real estate investors will typically purchase private house sales like this. For a seller, this means you don't have to think about maintenance before closing or any other additional expenses you didn't plan on. Some businesses do not need inspections that make it a completely as-is purchase. By using a real estate agent, an assessment of the property is almost always requested by the buyer's agent. When you find something wrong with the construction of the house, you might need to repair it out of the pocket before the house closes.

Open For Inspections

When you want to use a qualified house buyer you won't need to worry about going through an emotional roller coaster. There are no middle-of-dinner stressful phone calls asking if you're available to view your room. When going to work, you don't have to think about keeping your house spotless every day, just in case there is a presentation when you're working. You don't have to worry about running into a buyer's agent or their clients, or dealing with them asking you questions you shouldn't really answer anyway. There's also no need to think about customers fighting with you over which furniture you're bringing and what you're leaving.