As many of us know, selling a home can be a really huge task. Not only do you need to get it cleaned up an in a condition that can be shown to others, you have to decide how you are going to sell it. Many feel that they are going to try and sell a home by themselves (FSBO-For Sale By Owner), however after going through all the things you have to do to sell it, many will chose the route of using a real estate agent. So the question many ask is can you put your home on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) if you do not have a realtor? The answer is no.
Hiring a real estate agent might be looked at as a costly useless thing to do, however there really are a lot of benefits to using an agent. The key is to find an agent that you feel you can trust and you have a connection with them. If you hire someone just because they say they are going to list your house higher, that is not a true reason to go with an agent. At the end of the day, what matters is what is your home really worth and WHAT will get it to sell?????
Some of the behind the scene things an agent should do is:
- Pull recent comparable values of your home and share them with you. These comps should be similar and like kind homes within 1/2 mile at the most (at the most 1 mile if there are not as many sales). These should be shared with you so you can see what similar homes sold for.
- The agent should tell you where the home will show up if you list with them. For instance, will the listing show up in top home sites like Zillow and Realtor.com?
- The agent should keep open communication with you ongoing to give you an update on showings that have happened, feedback from other agents etc.
- Some say Open Houses don’t sell homes, but as a home owner it is nice to hear your agent did an Open House or even got the home on one of the realtor Home Tours. These are all great ways to get exposure to your home.
- Finally, any offers or inquiries that come in on your home, your agent should be sharing them with you. It is ultimately up to you to decide if you want to accept an offer.