Insights

If you are thinking of selling your home, you may be considering selling without the assistance of a real estate agent, also known as ‘sale by owner’. There are both pros and cons of selling without a real estate agent. We have broken out a list below of some of the benefits of a private sale and also some things to be wary of and consider before making a decision.

Pros:

• You are completely in control of your home sale, if you like to have full control and visibility around the sale of your home then this is one way of doing it!
• You can be the face of your property and meet and greet potential buyers yourself, gauging the interest firsthand.
• Noone can know your home, neighbours or your neighbourhood quite as much as you can. If you’re a good salesperson, very confident and a great communicator, you may be able to sell potential buyers in based on things an agent may not know about.
• The sale price is yours; no commissions are paid to other parties for their involvement and work in the sale as you’ve managed this all yourself.

 

Cons:

• You may risk selling your home for less than it’s worth and you may be left wondering what the final price could have been if an experienced agent worked on the sale with you.
• It takes a lot of time, effort and energy to manage a home sale including answering multiple enquiries daily, dealing with all interested parties and their offers, managing open for inspections, dealing with lenders, banks, government departments and more.
• Marketing materials will cost you a lot more than it will cost an agent. Agents have economies of scale with advertising and marketing materials and are likely to get these items at a much more cost-effective rate than sourcing yourself.
• Large exposure to your property can be difficult to achieve if you have limited channels and opportunities to spread the word that your home is for sale. Agents have access to large databases, their website traffic and connections with other agents in the industry making larger exposure much easier.
• If people recognise you as a private seller with no agent representation, they may consider you to be inexperienced and believe they have more bargaining power to lower the final sale price. Private sellers are generally more inexperienced, and this can be used as leverage for buyers.
• It can be very difficult to leave emotions out of the equation. While agents care about the homes they are selling, they can still approach your home sale with professionalism and not let any home criticisms or emotive stories from buyers sway their decisions. The have the interests of the homeowner at heart and a great sale price is their main priority.

Our Hodges agents involve you as much as you want to be involved in the sale of your property. Our agents are highly experienced and care about each homeowner and the success of their sale. If you are interested in selling your home, please get in touch with your local Hodges agent today to help you navigate the home sale process.

 

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