Hi there, Welcome back! I am so excited for this topic because I hear it all the time and I said "you know what, I need to make a video about it! Because there are a lot of things that go in place here.

Why sell your home and pay a realtor when you can do it on your own? Well in this article i'll be real with you, going over the advantages and disadvantages of doing so. In this way you'll be able to make a more educated decision. So without further due. Let's dive in. 

Okay! so you lived in your home for a while now, and decided to move on, the reasons can be countless, and I wont be getting into those. I am sure it was a big step in your life when you bought this property in the first place, so you might remember some of the excitement but also some of the anxiety it gave you at taht time, or perhaps you forgot already, by living there for many years. But I'm just reminding you of all of these because if you're thinking about selling your home on your own, you better be emotionally prepared of what you'll need or what might happen. 

Okay! Let's look at the benefits. Most of them you already know.

• You don't pay a Commission. Self explanatory. You either cut your own hair or you go to a hairstylist. The choice and result can be very obvious. I'll just leave it like that.
• (easy trick) You could attract more buyers just by listing your house at a lower value. And I know many of you don't really want that. But sometimes sacrifices need to be done if you want to sell fast.
• You negotiate with the buyer directly. Now this can be a benefit or a disadvantage depending on how good you are at negotiations overall.
• You have complete control over the entire process withount the implications or a third party. 
• And most likely you wont do any repairs or staging to the property, as most of the homeowners don't even think about those. 

So...that's about it.

Now let's look at the other side.

I totally understand, paying a portion of your sale to a Realtor seems undesirable at the moment, but there are many reasons why not using one is risky. So here are the advantages of using a realtor and your disadvantage of not using one.

• On average Realtors sell for about 24% more in value than you would on your own. And that's a national statistic, it's not just me saying it. You can research it and you'll find out by yourself. Well if you take that into consideration alone, that's 4 times higher that the 6% commission fee that a Realtor would charge you in the first place, which pays for itself pretty much. So that's that.
• Real estate contracts are a delicate matter. And i'm not saying this just to scare you, I am saying this to make you aware. Most people are not familiar with real estate contracts, because most sellers are either doctors, lawyers, Ceo's, celebrities, they don't deal with real estate contracts on a daily basis. And you shouldn't. It's not your job. You're already good at what you're doing. There are many liabilities that you as a seller might be responsible for, and that can be very costly to you if you don't know what you are doing. An experienced realtor most likely has a lot of knowledge and expertise in this field, A realtor knows complex transactions and knows how to protect your interests against a buyer. Do you know what to write, when to write, do you know what to do with your deadlines and what happens if you fall through? do you understand all that the contract implies or says? Do you know the differences between one checkmark in the contract versus the other? and how that affects you as a seller? An experienced Realtor looks at it for less than a minute and he understands everything about the buyer, and how skilled is the other realtor preparing the contract is. Knowing that information alone can help you tremendously in the negotiation process. Especially if you know that you're dealing with a rookie realtor. Think about that for a moment, how valuable that information would be to you.
• A good realtor will know how to prequalify a buyer, so you don't get to the closing table and the buyer is unable to close because he doesn't have his finances in place. You as an owner might get a pre-approval letter from a bank saying that the buyer has the money to close, but do you really know what to look for when receiving those and how to prescreen a buyer so you know he or she is not waisting your time, holding your property from being out on the market? Because the more you're out of the market the more money you lose everyday. I hope you know that.
• Selling with a realtor is likely to sell faster. And i'm not talking here about the lazy realtor. the one that comes in, puts a sign in your yard, lists your property in MLS and then pray for buyers to show up. Anyone can do that. you even. There are brokers who will allow you to put your property in the MLS for a flat fee. But apparently that alone does not sell your property. You need extensive marketing. and by extensive I mean active and passive marketing. If you want to lear more about those and how can you learn to do it yourself, subscribe to the channel, that's going to be in one of the new videos I'll be revealing soon.
• Then using a Realtor, besides saving you a lot of trouble, it saves you a lot of time. And i mean it. Buyers will be calling, they will want to see the property, and you have to be available for showings, you'll have to prepare your house for showings every single time. There is a way of doing that as well. I actually have checklist of things you need to do and have ready before your showings. Send me an e-mail and I'll share it with you for free. Because we as realtors we are doing this everyday, it's our job. We have an eye for detail. I can walk in any house and in less than 5 minutes I can tell you exactly what you need to do to that property to make it more appealing and also bring you more value. Skill comes with practice and expertise. This is not something you're born with.
• Also the reason why a realtor can bring you more money to the table, even after paying the realtor's commission, sometimes can be from, great negotiation skills, intense contract knowledge, and outstanding marketing performance to attract the right type of buyers. After all how many buyers do you need for your property? Just one. One that is able and willing to pay your price. that's all. We're looking for one person. But to find that person, well that's where the connections and expertise comes in.
• On top of all the above a Realtor knows the market changes in your city and has a lot of professional network. Realtors consistently interact with each other about properties and hidden gems.

After all, it is your decision to make, but I believe you will make the right one for yourself. Think of it like this, perhaps you won't sell another house again in many years to come, at least make sure you are doing it the right way, and if you decide to use a realtor then make sure you chose the right one, I'll have another article on that coming soon on how to choose a realtor when the options are so many, what to look for, what questions to ask, what to avoid, and so on.

If you are in Miami looking to sell, feel free to connect, I'll be glad to give you some free advice in anyway I can. If you are in another state, connect with me regardless, I might know a great connection in your area that I can put you in touch with. Thank you for reading, and see you next time.

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