In 2019 is hard to think in a business that actually does a WAY better job than the similar online solutions you can find. At Henley Charles, we are proud to offer a huge Online presence to our clients, but we are even prouder to put customer service and the personal experience first. Not only we want to offer a good service, is a lot Real Estate Agents can do for sellers or Property Investors.
Understand why the Internet doesn’t replace realtors:
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
You don’t need to know everything about buying and selling real estate if you hire a real estate professional who does. Henry Ford once said that when you hire people who are smarter than you are, it proves you are smarter than they are. The trick is to find the right person. We’re all looking for more precious time in our lives, and hiring pros gives us that time.
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE MARKET
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 the average cost of similar homes, median and average sales prices, average days on market and ratios of list-to-sold prices, among other criteria will have a huge bearing on what you ultimately decide to do.
Pricing a home properly is bar none the most important thing you can do as a Realtor. If you find an amateur Agent, they can try to put a price on your property to attract buyers or even to make you happy and that is not the right way. This is actually one of the lowest things a Real Estate agent can do and violates the code of ethics we are supposed to follow.
Top notch Real Estate agents will price each home using their training, understanding of the market and comparable sales. Understanding how to price a home is one of an agent’s most valuable skills. Smart sellers should be looking for agents who sell homes for close to the original listing price.
As a seller, you should be aware that pricing a home too high can cause major issues in the sale. Buyers may avoid it, and if they avoid the home long enough, it will develop a bad reputation. Eventually, you will be forced to drop the price to be competitive in the marketplace, but by that point, the bad rep will have stuck.
Even with a competitive price, buyers will be likely to low-ball you after a period of time. Ultimately you may sell the house for less than what you would have if you had priced it correctly, to begin with. The seller loses out, and the agent’s reputation suffers.
While some agents will intentionally misrepresent a home’s value to get business, others lack the skill to price a home correctly. The perfect example is the Realtor who takes shortcuts and uses things like price per square foot to determine value. Unless you want your home priced wrong, don’t ever listen to a price per square foot of being an accurate way of pricing a property. The only way this indicator is useful is if all the homes in your neighbourhood are identical. Rarely is this ever the case.
PAPERWORK AND LEGAL KNOWLEDGE
One-page deposit receipts were prevalent in the early 1970s. Today’s purchase agreements run tons of pages and I am not even mentioning the West Midlands (for example) legal requirements. Most real estate files average thicknesses from one to three inches of paper. One tiny mistake or omission could land you in court or cost you thousands. That is why is always easier to let reliable agents handle all of this.
MARKET THE HECK OUT YOUR PROPERTY
Marketing is one area where your Real Estate agent should shine. Your agent should be taking great pictures of the property – that is why Henley Charles has a good property photographer for example. The photography on your home is absolutely one of the essential elements in selling homes today. The internet will be where home buyers discover your home. If your homes pictures are lousy, you will lose out on a significant amount of traffic.
Also, you can count on your agent to get the word out using all available marketing channels. Ideally, your Realtor should have a website that draws traffic and showcases all their properties for sale. They should also be using social media, like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and other platforms, to spread the word. All of these online options take some time for an agent to develop, but will ultimately strengthen their business and help their client’s homes get sold.
NEGOTIATE THE BEST TERMS
Different from the internet, using a Real Estate Agent will make you have someone to go out of their way to fight hard for the best terms and conditions for you. This, after all, is what they are paid to do. A great Real Estate agent will never think about their pocketbook but what makes the most sense for their client.
Real Estate agents who advocate for their clients are always striving for the best possible terms for the transaction. Everything in Real Estate contracts is negotiable, good agents when warranted don’t hesitate to counteroffer with a price that is more favourable to their client. They have the negotiation skills necessary to get the job done right. And not only saves you time, but it also saves hours of worrying about offers and what to do with them.
If a client wants adjustments to contingency dates or closing times, these should be negotiated appropriately. A good agent will understand the real value of each element to the customer. Pushing to get clients everything they possibly can is what the best of the best do on a regular basis. That is something you cannot find on the Internet alone.
ATTEND HOME INSPECTIONS
Having someone to represent the seller on inspections and meetings with potential buyers is always the best way to go. By being there for the inspection, the agent gets to hear all the feedback from the inspector firsthand.
So when I am asked if a listing agent should attend the home inspection, the answer is a resounding yes! Your agent can keep track of everything that is said and keep things in perspective should the buyer ask for concessions based on the inspection.
Some requests may be reasonable. Others may not. When a sellers agent is there and can see everything in person, they can protect a seller from unreasonable requests.
Here is the perfect example: A home inspector says during the inspection that the roof has 3 to 5 years left before it needs to be replaced. The translation after a home inspection from the buyer to the seller is that a new
roof is needed immediately. Sometimes what the home inspector says and what is written in his report are two different things.
When the listing agent is present, they can see and hear first hand what exactly the issues are. Some buyers will exaggerate everything in the hopes of getting a closing cost concession or the seller making repairs. Home inspections often become the second place of negotiations.
FINALIZE LOOSE ENDS TO CLOSE THE DEAL
Selling a house involves a lot of work. There are so many little details that must be taken care of, which is one of the big selling points for your services. As the closing draws near, you will need to take care of all the loose ends for your client. Taking care of the smoke & carbon monoxide detector certificate, final water/sewer readings and any other issues is part of the package you offer – or at least it should be. The less work, your client, has to do, the more appealing you are as an agent.
Selling a home can be very stressful, but when you have a top-shelf agent in your corner who is taking care of the little details, the burden can be eased just a bit.
In summary, the services a reliable Real Estate Agent can offer you often will be more valuable than anything you can do “for free” on the internet. Also, in the case of Henley Charles for example – that offers steady fees and no hidden surprises along the way – you will probably pay less than some marketing services you would do by yourself (without having to actually do all the work) and you will get a WAY better deal at the end of the day. Before putting your property on the market by yourself, contact us to compare and see that our services and all the expertise we offer you will always be a better choice.