Women today are so busy. You have to run your business, run your homes, care for your children, tend to your partner, and everything else you do every day. Now you need to sell your home or another property you own. Do you really need to add another job to your list, more stress to your life? You can sell your home without an agent, but why should you? Delegate that task to an expert, a real estate agent. You will save time and stress, you will have an objective, trained negotiator to negotiate your sales contract, and you will likely realize a much greater return on the sale. A real estate agent is truly a girl’s best friend.
MYTH 1: A real estate agent can’t sell my house for more than I could on my own. This is just not true.
Agents can sell your home for more. Statistics from “Sell Your Home for More” show that when you sell your home by yourself, you usually sell for 17% less than if an agent had sold your home. Based on this statistic, say if your home is worth the median- around $480,000. Vendors get 17% less which equates to $81,600. Agents commission on the same home is around 2.5%. So, for approximately $12,000, you pocket an additional $70,000 on the sale of your home! Knowing that, why would you not use an agent to sell your home? Why do agents realize so much more on sales? Primarily, because they are experts in their field, because the real estate market is their playground, it is their world, 7 days a week. They bring talent, skills and resources to the process that you do not have. Real estate agents know the current real estate market. Because of this, they are better able to price your home. They have access to proprietary real estate tools and information that you do not, such as comparable sales data. They also have actually visited many neighborhood properties that are currently on the market and are better equipped to assess the competition. They know what the market will allow and seek to maximize your return. Agents also provide better market exposure for your property. They know where to advertise to maximize your advertising dollar. They also have a vast network of prospective buyers they can access to further expand market exposure of your property. When an agent gets a new property listing they usually have GROUP INSPECTION with all the agents in their office- who also have a list of buyers. As a result of group inspections- known as “groupies”, instead of one agent marketing your property, you now have 20 agents or more, who will be showing your property to their prospective buyers. An agent increases your market exposure tenfold or more.
MYTH 2: Real estate agents do not earn their commissions. Many people are under the false impression that real estate agents earn commissions for doing very little work. This is far from true.
Agents sell your home for more. For this reason alone, an agent earns his commission. If she can sell your home for 15%, even 10% more than her commission, she has provided you her professional services for free and put money in your pocket on top of that. Could you ask for a better deal?
(I am not sure about how this reads- we sell for 17% more than an vendor would sell for- our commission total- not what we get in our pockets- is around $10,000. This sounds like we sell houses for the value of our commission- around $10,000- I tried to change it but I am not sure it still reads ok)
Agents put substantial time and effort behind the scenes to become experts. Many agents work 7 days a week. There is no 9 to 5 for agents, they work at all hours, from early morning to late in the evening, taking calls, finding properties, marketing their properties. A good agent has to know her market. This requires she spend substantial time visiting and showing many properties, as well as monitoring sales and new properties coming onto the market. She also has to build and maintain a broad network of agents, buyers and other professionals. She lists and markets properties, she holds open houses and works with other agents and real estate professionals. Agents save you time and remove much of the stress of selling your property. For busy women today, it is difficult to find all the time required to do what you must do, adding the additional tasks and time required to sell your home is just not worth the stress. Do you really want to be fielding phone calls from prospective buyers at work or spending your limited down time figuring out how to market your property? An agent will save you both stress and time by doing all the legwork for you: marketing your property, fielding calls, screening prospective buyers, showing the property, negotiating your contract, scheduling and attending inspections, coordinating repairs and coordinating with other professionals such as lenders, lawyers and conveyancers. (Yes, we act in between the buyer and seller- so that the agent is objective and can negotiate hard- also a skill we bring to the transaction)
MYTH 3: I need to sign an exclusive listing agreement with an agent to sell my home.
MYTH 4: A real estate agent wants to advertise my property only because that helps them. This just doesn’t make any sense, does it?
Advertising increases your property’s market exposure. Yes, an agent who advertises more properties does appear to many to be a better agent, a top seller, because she has more listings. But that is a side-effect of the agent’s marketing goal and not her initial motivation to advertise your property. An agent advertises your property because she wants to increase your market exposure. If as a result of the agent’s advertising of multiple properties, she creates a larger pool of properties from which to attract more buyers, you, as a vendor, will benefit from the larger market the agent has attracted through her advertising efforts. The larger the agent’s market, the more buyers that are likely to be exposed to your property.
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Christine Stow is the director and founder of Women In Property Melbourne an organisation supporting women interested in property investing and renovating. They offer host joint venture opportunities, information workshops, networking meetings, property resources and contacts. If it is in property- Christine knows where to find it.
Christine is also a available to present at workshops on real estate and property questions: having run workshops for first home buyers and Women in Property Melbourne for over 2 years- Christine provides an insight as to how it really is in real estate.
Contact Christine Stow
Christine@womeninproperty.net.au
www.womeninproperty.net.au
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