We have arrived at the second article in the column we devote to useful tips on how to sell a house. We deal with a doubt that frequently grips property owners when they decide to put it up for sale: Better to do it yourself or rely on a real estate agency?
The doubt may be legitimate. The first consideration concerns the cost to be incurred if one turns to an agency: indeed, it is thought that by turning to a real estate agency one faces an expense that could perhaps be avoided, but is this really the case? Can the benefit one would derive from saving money be greater than that brought by real estate professionals?
To answer these questions we will try to consider possible scenarios and especially some key points that necessarily need to be analyzed when deciding to sell a house.
Would you know how to make an assessment of the price of the property?
The first knot to untie is always the same: Pricing the property fairly. If the price is too high, it will be difficult to sell it because buyers nowadays are much better prepared than they used to be: they will probably have looked for ads on the net or consulted some real estate agencies, and they will certainly not want to buy the property by paying an out-of-market price. Conversely, asking too low a price risks selling off the property, giving up part of the profit.
One must therefore carefully study the housing market. You will find at this point that the price of a property can depend on multiple factors, in addition to the area of the property will also affect the accessories that the house has, the area in which it is located and the type of services in the vicinity.
However, this analysis could be quite laborious, since there are many factors to be taken into consideration, and many also strictly technical, and therefore unknown to most: there is a risk that the result reached could be defined in a cursory and somewhat simplistic assessment.
Turning to a real estate agency will make things easier and safer.
A good real estate agent has a perfect understanding of the local real estate market and uses tools and professionals with whom he or she works who, following an inspection of the home, are able to make a proper assessment of the property's price.
There are two other important factors to consider.
The first factor is that the real estate agent has no "emotional involvement" with the property to be sold, which is sometimes a limitation in the price estimation process for those who wish to do it themselves.
The second factor is that the real estate agency, being an intermediary, must reconcile the interests of both parties, buyer and seller, and for that reason will find the right basis of agreement on price, carefully considering what the breaking point of the negotiation itself is.
Have you considered renovation?
If the house to be sold is in excellent condition obviously the problem does not arise, but what if it is not? What if it has moisture problems, if the roof needs to be redone, or if there are elements of the property that need to be redone? The question that might arise is whether it is more cost-effective to sell it in the state it is in, leaving the new owner to provide a renovation of the property, or whether it would be more beneficial to proceed with restructuring, prior to commercialization. The second option might be advantageous for two reasons:
- increase the value of the property
- Make the item to be sold more desirable
A lot actually depends on your skills, financial and time availability.
You may rely on your imagination and personal taste, but would you invest your money effectively? Would you know what tricks, improvements, and modifications right now work best? And would you know how to identify which interventions you could safely avoid?
If a real estate agency came into the picture, it could suggest building interventions that are best suited to your home's features or most aligned with what the market is looking for most. Then your investment on renovations would be truly effective. In addition, by involving a real estate agency you could probably also be directed to reliable and proven craft firms with which the agencies themselves often find themselves working.
Bureaucracy
You're not just selling any object, you want to sell your house, and that entails a whole series of bureaucratic and documentary needs that, if you're not in the industry, you wouldn't imagine. Do you know if the house you are selling is in compliance in all respects? Do you know the latest laws in force on the subject?
Entrusting yourself to a real estate agency simplifies many things. Every step will be followed and supported by a professional.
The real estate agency is responsible for sourcing many Documents required in real estate transactions as Land registry plans, title deeds, mortgage inspections plus it also assists you in cases where professional involvement is necessary. Also consider that agencies have a network of relationships with various professionals and subsist regular collaborations with them, which often results in savings on the fees they charge.
In this way, both parties involved (seller and buyer) are protected and shielded from unpleasant surprises, thus allowing the entire negotiation phase to be made as easy as possible.
What's more: the real estate agency takes care of the drafting of the purchase proposal by standing as guarantor of the parties and supports you in all the subsequent steps, up to the moment of the deed, in the notary's office, where it will assist you if needed.
Promoting real estate sales
Decisive step in the selling process is promoting it. You can simply hang a "for sale" sign on the property and wait for someone to contact you.
Surely getting to a sale would take a very long time; first, because the visibility of the ad is limited and, second, because potential buyers will already be looking on other channels and so you will be almost cut off. Let us also tell you that, in addition to these initial observations, many people consider the sign hanging outside the house a kind of debasement of the house itself.
If you would like to list your home on sales portals, you will need to make a photo shoot, trying to take good quality shots, and you will need to create eye-catching text ads that highlight the virtues of the properties.
Evidently on the very issue of the promotion the advantages that real estate agency can offer you are truly significant.
Let's start with the photo shoot: first of all, a good agent uses cameras of the highest quality, but most importantly, the work of the photo survey is entrusted to a professional. The shots are carefully designed and selected based on a very long experience gained in the field. Real estate agents are also able to conduct photographic surveys with 360-degree views, if not even create virtual tours inside the house.
Coming now to the publication of ads on portals, the real estate agency knows how to write an ad capable of attracting the right audience, knows what to highlight and what features of the property to leverage. Moreover, the visibility in terms of placement that an ad posted by an agency on an industry portal enjoys is always much greater than that from the ad of a private individual. This is mainly due to the fact that the agency purchases paid services on the real estate portal, and this inevitably results in consequent advantages. The real estate agency publishes ads on its website and social pages, which already possess significant local visibility.
Finally, consider that in many cases the real estate agency already has a portfolio of potential customers to contact, already filtered by wants and needs.
There is no doubt that in terms of expertise, timing, and ability to make the sale, choosing to rely on a real estate agency has significant advantages. When time is money, it seems normal to save time, especially one's own (Theodor Adorno).
Could you become a good salesman?
Up to the time of sale you will have to meet with several people interested in buying the house, lose a lot of time in tours of the property, you will have to cope with all the inquiries, and you will have to understand the possible buyer in front of you.
Moreover, although the property should speak for itself, and the buyer is interested in the property and not in the seller, this does not detract from the fact that good charisma and a good disposition to the art of selling can provide inviting assists to say the right thing at the right time.
The real estate agent Is undoubtedly competent in all this. Knows how to distinguish a prospective buyer from a real estate tourist, avoiding wasted time as much as possible. The real estate agent accompanies visitors on business and therefore has no difficulty meeting the time requirements of prospective buyers, and this flexibility increases the number of visits and consequently the chances of closing the sale. He or she is able to empathize with clients, knows how to enhance the strengths of your home, and has all the technical knowledge necessary to answer questions from interested parties. He also knows when to step aside and let the visitor have time to start imagining what it will be like to live in that home. In short, the real estate agent is definitely a good salesperson.
Conclusions
Considering all these aspects, relying on a real estate agency and bearing the related charges will not be an unnecessary expense; on the contrary, it will be a real investment to achieve your goal easily and in the shortest possible time, saving you time and money, all this so that the sale of your home becomes for you a transition to be lived with serenity and not a stressful moment in your life.
