The process of selling a home can be overwhelming. Among the many decisions you need to make is the choice of whether you’re going to sell your home “for sale by owner” or with the help of a real estate agent. There are many benefits to working with a professional agent to take a lot of the work off your shoulders. Here’s a list of a few of the greatest benefits to partnering with a real estate agent for selling your home.

1. Objectivity

When you sell your home yourself, you’re emotionally invested in the process. Working with a real estate agent for selling a home helps remove some of the emotion from the equation. Not being emotionally invested makes a real estate professional less likely to make mistakes, such as overpricing your home, refusing to counter offers, giving in too easily, etc. When you sell through an agent, they can help take the sting out of rejection and put a positive spin on feedback. A real estate professional has extensive knowledge about the market and knows the ins and outs of the selling process, making them objective advisors who can recommend the best decisions along the way.

2. Time

Selling a house is a full-time job. You need to be readily available to show the house, answer inquiries, and spend time marketing the property. If you’re trying to sell a home on your own while also managing a career or family, you’ll quickly be overwhelmed. Because it’s their job, a real estate agent is available to show the property when a buyer wants to see it and can spend plenty of time answering questions and inquiries. Additionally, many buyers feel awkward when a seller is present, so it’s a good idea to have a seller’s agent present when they are touring the home instead.

3. Access to Large Networks

When you sell a home for sale by owner, you can use a variety of online sites such as Zillow, Redfin, Craigslist, and the multiple listing service (MLS) that real estate agents use. This might seem like enough, but a professional agent brings even more to the table to make your listing more visible and appealing. Real estate agents have relationships with their clients, other agents, and an agency to create an even larger pool of potential buyers. This means more people will be hearing about your home, increasing the chances of a sale.

4. Qualifying Questions

When you work with a real estate agent for selling your home, you benefit from their extensive knowledge of how to weed out unqualified buyers. Professional agents are trained to ask qualifying questions to determine if a potential buyer is serious, motivated, and qualified to purchase your home. They can get a good feel for whether a buyer is likely to make a serious offer based on a number of questions, such as how long they’ve been looking, whether they’ve seen other homes that could work for them, if they have been prequalified for a loan or are paying cash, etc.

5. Negotiations

Selling a home on your own means you’ll be sifting through offers and negotiating on your own behalf. These negotiations will likely be with buyer’s agents who have a lot more experience in these situations. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and emotional when dealing with a pushy buyer, which could lead to poor decisions. You also likely aren’t as familiar with market conditions, fees, closing costs, etc., to factor into your negotiations. When you use a real estate agent for selling, they can guide you through the entire process and offer their expertise to help you make the best decisions. They can let you know what a reasonable price is for your home and how to counter offers to get you the best deal possible.

6. Legal Risk

There is a lot of legal paperwork involved in selling a home. One important legal document is the seller’s disclosure, which discloses anything that materially affects the property. This document holds a lot of weight, and if you fail to disclose anything you could be held liable for fraud, negligence, or breach of contract. A real estate professional has extensive knowledge about the disclosure laws and can make sure you follow them correctly. Even if a real estate agent makes a mistake, they have professional insurance to protect themselves and take the heat off the homeowner.

List Smoky Mountain Homes for Sale with Local Realty Group

These are just some of the many ways you could benefit from working with a real estate agent for selling your home. If you are thinking about selling a home in the Smoky Mountains area, our trained and experienced local real estate agents can help! We know how to get you through the sale of your home in the least stressful way possible, from getting it show worthy to listing it on the MLS to showings to offers and negotiations. Find out more about how we sell your home to learn how we can get you the best price for your home!