Mackay Regional Real Estate
Dear Robyn, I have seen people selling their homes privately For Sale By Owner. Why should I use a real estate agent?
There are many sites that encourage sellers to sell privately, and these have been around for many years. However, you need to ask yourself why they haven’t succeeded and taken over the market place?
Some testimonials of these websites provide successful experiences where the sale has gone smoothly, which is great. However, they avoid telling of the disasters or legal ramifications the sellers may have experienced.
Most of the sellers that I meet after they’ve tried to sell privately tell me that the process drove them insane.
They found it hard to listen to negative feedback or negotiate on their own property that they loved sentimentally. Buyers also manipulated the sale knowing the seller was selling without the commission costs charged by an agency and tried to bargain them down to ridiculously low prices. Many also felt that they had to entertain ‘tyre kickers’ who were just sticky-beaking. They were afraid that in the long term, something could come back to bite them because they didn’t have the knowledge around legislation, loop holes or the fine print.
Private sellers are not in the market place every weekend conducting Open Homes, getting to know buyers and what they want. But mostly, private sellers have not got any experience negotiating deals and taking the role of the middle-man.
Other than your health and that of your loved ones, your home is probably your next largest asset. A ‘cheap’ process, such as privately selling, may be appealing when looking at the upfront costs, but this can end up being very expensive when it literally costs you tens of thousands of dollars. Would you select the cheapest surgeon? Would you select the cheapest mechanic? Probably not. It’s best to talk to a Real Estate Agent who is an experienced expert in the industry.
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