You might have seen a house with a “for sale by owner” sign in the front yard and wondered if that was a good option for you.  While it’s true that selling your home yourself does mean you don’t have to pay a realtor, there are a lot of downsides to doing so.  In fact, hiring a realtor to sell your home gives you a lot of advantages, all of which are worth paying for.  Here are a few of the reasons why trying to sell your home yourself is a bad idea.

Consider a Realtor-You don’t have access to any of the contacts the realtor has made over the years.  Realtors know contractors, loan officers, mortgage brokers, and more.  They can connect you with any of these people if you need their services.

-Realtors will list your house on the MLS, the Multiple Listing Service.  This gets your home into one of the largest searchable real estate databases. Without a realtor, you would have to list your home online yourself through whatever smaller real estate listing sites you can find. A realtor will also know to use an online valuation tool like the ones at propertypricer.com.au to get an accurate selling price of your property.

-Realtors have lists of people who are looking for homes.  They will most likely immediately know of a few potential buyers for your property as soon as they see your house.  They will also be able to direct more buyers to your property over time.

-A realtor will handle all of the showings and open houses for you.  This means they will contact the potential buyers like the Harmony Home Buyers, set up a time for them to see the property, host the open house, and more.  You don’t have to do a thing.  In fact, you don’t have to be at the property during any of these showings.

-Your realtor will walk you through the entire process of selling your house, including vetting a potential buyer, arranging the closing, and answering any and all questions you have.  Without a realtor, you’re completely on your own.  If you’ve never sold property before, there’s a very good chance that you won’t understand some parts of the process, and that can cost you a lot of money.

-Realtors know the real estate market.  They understand what types of houses are selling where and the best price range for your home.  Many of them have years of experience in the industry and have learned many little tricks for getting the most money out of a house.