| They save you time and hassle:
What’s your time worth?
It’s a question worth considering, as selling a property is a fairly protracted affair. It requires someone to set up a marketing campaign, research and price the property, meet potential buyers for viewings, follow up with those buyers, and then go through the process of actually selling your home.
Hire an agent and you’ll be able to spend your time on more important things such as work and family.
They have better sales skills:
They say you can’t buy experience, but you can in a way; you can buy your agent’s.
When sellers hire an agent they are paying for their expertise and experience, their contacts and networks of buyers, and their intimate knowledge of the local property market.
You use an agent purely because they’re experienced and have knowledge in the area. A good agent will sit down with you and tell you how your property should be presented and advise you on the best marketing campaign. An agent can help you both avoid the pitfalls and distinguish time-wasters from serious buyers.
Buyers can contact them more easily:
One of the biggest advantages of using an agent is that it’s their job to be available at the times most buyers need them, which is almost certain to be more often than you are.
In fact, your limited availability could turn some buyers off, resulting in fewer prospective buyers coming for viewings .
Giancarlo Agrizzi from Hamptons Realty explains his experience with for sale by owner properties: “I went through a property on the weekend. When I looked at it online, straight away I could see there was no agent on it, so I just had to call the owner. I called and couldn’t get through to view the property for a week. So it was very restrictive, and if you want to sell your property you need to show your property to as many people as possible.”
They better understand property values:
There’s no point in saving R20 000 in agent commissions if you then go on to lose five to 10 times that amount because you don’t know the true value of your own home. Which is what happens to sellers who try to go it alone.
Giancarlo says “they trying to save some money, so they’ll save the commission but lose R100,000 in the process”.
“Pricing properties is an art. Price it too low and you’ll get too many buyers and they’ll be annoyed. Price it too high and you’ll get no buyers, so you need to price it effectively.”
| 