Why hiring a Real Estate Agent when buying or selling a home.

1. Education & Experience.

Everyone forgets about one very important question “What if things goes wrong in the transaction? Who will pay for that mistake?” Of Coarse, you will pay part of it and the price may be costly and the pain will be for sometime. Agents will use their best knowledge and experience to prevent this. If you’re a seller, your agent will filter all those phone calls that lead to nowhere from joe shmo and try to induce serious buyers to immediately write an offer and will help keep the buyer and his agent on track till closing. If you are a buyer, they will help you and guide you throughout the process to get you to the closing date safely meeting every milestone with the least pain or hardship. No one can afford to missing the closing date or getting there when no one is ready to close.

3. Neighborhood Knowledge

Agents possess good knowledge about your neighborhood. They have access to all info about comparable sales and can make this available to you, in addition to pointing you in the direction where you can find data on schools, crime or demographics.

4. Price Guidance

Contrary to what some people believe, agents do not select prices for sellers or buyers. However, an agent will help to guide clients to make the right choices for themselves. Selling agents will ask buyers to weigh all the data supplied to them and to choose a price. Then based on market supply, demand and the conditions, the agent will devise a negotiation strategy.

5. Market Conditions Information

Real estate agents can disclose market conditions, which will govern your selling or buying process. Many factors determine how you will proceed. Data such as similar homes, median and average sales prices, average days on market and ratios of list-to-sold prices.

6. Professional Networking

Real estate agents network with other professionals, many of whom provide services that you will need to buy or sell. Due to legal liability, many agents will hesitate to recommend a certain individual or company over another, but they do know which vendors have a reputation for efficiency, competency and competitive pricing.

7. Negotiation Skills & Confidentiality

Top producing agents negotiate well because, unlike most buyers and sellers, they can remove themselves from the emotional aspects of the transaction and because they are skilled. It’s part of their job. Good agents are not messengers, delivering buyer’s offers to sellers and vice versa. They are professionals who are trained to present their client’s case in the best light and agree to hold client information confidential from competing interests.

8. Handling Paperwork

One-page deposit receipts were enough to sell a house in the old days. Today’s contracts run so many pages with all forms and addendums and mandated disclosures. One tiny mistake or omission could land you in court or cost you thousands. In some states, lawyers handle the disclosures.