Selling Your Home Privately – Pros and Cons
Not everyone wants to hire a real estate agent to sell their house these days. If you’re familiar with how things work in this industry, there’s nothing wrong in being your own agent.
However, pulling this off on your own might be neither as easy as you might think nor as profitable. You should make your decision after you’ve considered the advantages and disadvantages of selling your house without a real agent.
The Pros
- You Won’t Have to Pay the Real Estate Agent
This is the primary reason why people stray away from the classic way of selling houses. Considering that the vast majority of real estate agents get a commission that’s based on the price the house sells for, you can save a huge amount of money (from thousands of bucks to tens of thousands).
As we shall see next, this shouldn’t be a cause for celebration yet, because things can take a turn for the worse.
- Exclusivity
When you sell your house privately, you can dedicate your entire time to showing potential buyers around it and answering phones. A real estate agent is probably working with many other people besides you, so they won’t focus exclusively on your house.
- You Do Things Your Way
You’ve got full control over your house and the sale. You can put any price you want on it and you can sell it any way you want. Plus, you get the freedom to bargain. Whatever the process of selling the house involves, it’s all in your hands.
The Cons
- You Might Not Get Top Dollar
Realtors are professionals who can appraise a house based on the current trends in the market. The owner asks buyers for what they think the house is worth. In this case, they can under or oversell, and it goes without saying that neither of these is a good thing.
Moreover, real estate agents take emotion out of the negotiation and may be able to get you more money by negotiating with clients directly, which you may miss out on by selling privately.
- Your Reach Will Be Limited
Listing a house on eBay or Gumtree isn’t very effective. You can wait for months on end and get no interest. Realtors, on the other hand, can reach people that you could never reach via the Internet and often have their own database of buyers.
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- The Issue with Legality
Do you know all your legal obligations? If not, you could get yourself in trouble. Sellers need to respect a lot of rules in order to be in line with the legislation and it’s less likely that you know all of them. A realtor is versed in everything pertaining to the existing laws and limitations.
Conclusion
There is both good and bad points when it comes to selling one’s house privately. Since a ton of money is involved, always consider the advantages and disadvantages thoroughly before you proceed as your own realtor or with a good real estate agent, and make sure you make the right decision for your circumstance.
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