For many, homeownership equals independence. Yet in a rush to experience that independence, homebuyers and sellers may think, “I don’t need a real estate agent.”
Unfortunately, a solo journey to buying a new home or selling an existing home is indeed lonely—and often long, stressful, and costly.
Real estate agents are more than hired professionals—they are guides and allies in reaching your homeownership goals and achieving the independence you seek. Hardworking agents like Grge Myers of Castle Rock, CO, deliver expertise and efficiency that’s difficult to find on your own.
This guide explores the concrete advantages of working with a real estate agent, whether you are buying or selling a home, and provides tips for finding an agent who can make your homeownership dreams come true.
SKILLED NEGOTIATIONS
Unless a property for sale is in a hot market, the listing price is rarely what you’ll pay for your new home. However, negotiating a selling price isn’t like haggling for a used car—many legal and practical considerations come into play that most homebuyers aren’t prepared for.
A good real estate agent like Greg Myers, understands the nuances of negotiation and can help get you the best price possible, as well as possibly convince the seller to cover other expenses such as:
- Closing costs
- Home inspection
- Post-sale repairs
- Home warranty
- Existing appliances and furniture
- Possession date (letting the sellers stay in the home, for a cost, past the closing date)
A skilled negotiator can save you thousands of dollars and reduce the hassle of completing a sale. And in a hot market, in which buyers are willing to pay above listing price, an experienced real estate agent can ensure you make a smart offer that is accepted right away—or tell you when the home simply isn’t worth the price—thus helping you avoid getting caught in a bidding war.
MORE FOCUSED SEARCH
Depending on the state of the market, there could be dozens or even hundreds of homes for sale in communities where you’re interested in buying a home. Sorting through all these listings takes time, and even if you do find some properties that look promising, you may end up wasting time visiting them and/or attending open houses and discovering they’re nothing like what you expected.
Your time is valuable, so letting your real estate agent do much of the research gets you to your potential home faster and with less stress. Good agents can cut through the minutiae of a listing and focus on the features of a property that are important to you. They also tour homes for sale and may already be familiar with many key details and concerns. This doesn’t mean that you can’t ask to see a home that you’ve discovered on your own, but it does help narrow your search to mostly the homes that fit your requirements.
Your time is valuable, so letting your real estate agent do much of the research gets you to your potential home faster and with less stress.
Advantages for Homesellers
Homesellers who don’t work with an agent have options, but neither is great:
- They can sell their properties through Zillow Offers, iBuyer, or Offerpad. For the convenience of selling quickly, homeowners sacrifice negotiating power and lose even more money from added fees.
- They can go the for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) route and sell their homes completely on their own. The hours necessary for an FSBO transaction are immense, homes may stay on the market longer (unless you are selling to someone you know), and the selling price is, on average, $80,000 less than with an agent.
If you think of your home as an investment, you want to make the most from it—and the best way to achieve that is to work with an agent like Greg Myers.
IDENTIFYING PROBLEMS
No property is perfect, but sometimes sellers don’t see the problems that will turn buyers off—or lowball their offers. You may like that 1960s-era avocado green tile in your bathroom, but others may see it as a potential expense to replace if they buy the home.
Quality real estate agents are experts not only in getting your house sold but also in identifying issues with the property and recommending repairs and improvements that can boost the selling price. Of course, fixing every problem is not practical or cost-effective, but your agent will steer you toward the improvements that will deliver the most impact with prospective buyers.
Sometimes, just a fresh coat of paint or a deep clean can make a home look more attractive.
SHORTER TIME TO SALE
Here’s an acronym that homesellers should become familiar with: DOM, or days on market. A longer DOM on a listed property generally translates into a lower selling price, which obviously doesn’t benefit the seller. Of course, many factors contribute to DOM—including time of year, the economy, interest rates, the local real estate market, and so on—but often, a home that takes a long time to sell wasn’t properly priced in the first place.
Working with a real estate agent like Greg Myers of Castle Rock, CO., shortens DOM and can get your house sold in less time. Good agents help you set a proper selling price, advise what you should do to make your home more attractive, and bring in the foot traffic to look at your property.
OPEN HOUSES
Once you’ve properly staged your home, a real estate agent can begin showing it to interested buyers. Although one-one-one showings are important, nothing delivers exposure quite like an open house. For real estate agents, an open house is like the Super Bowl, Christmas, and the Fourth of July all rolled into one—and their expertise on the big day (or days) generates excitement that moves your home closer to sale.
An open house is an art form and a science; skilled real estate agents are experts at making visitors feel comfortable, answering buyer questions with enthusiasm and professionalism, and turning even the most glaring of negatives about a property into positives.
For real estate agents, an open house is like the Super Bowl, Christmas, and the Fourth of July all rolled into one—and their expertise on the big day (or days) generates excitement that moves your home closer to sale.
PAPERWORK
You probably remember how much paperwork was involved when you bought your home. Unfortunately, being on the selling end involves just as much, not only to provide the proper documentation to the buyer but also to ensure any profits from the sale are applied to a new mortgage if you’re moving to another home. Real estate agents help organize and review all this paperwork so that you can focus on other important things, including the impending move to your new home!
Real estate agents help organize and review all this paperwork so that you can focus on other important things, including the impending move to your new home!
However, less experienced agents might be able to deliver the same level of knowledge, dedication, professionalism, and enthusiasm. You want an agent who will work tirelessly for you—and younger and/or newer agents might also fit the bill. After all, something about an agent’s personality and work ethic brought them to real estate; those traits combined with ongoing training produce agents ready to serve you.
ASSESS THE RELATIONSHIP
A good real estate agent is like a therapist—sometimes, you just click with one and instinctively know this is the person you want helping you. Although your gut might not always be perfect, it will generally distinguish between an agent you feel you can trust and one you’re not so sure about.
If you ever feel pressured or patronized by a real estate agent or they are making seemingly impossible claims, they might not be a good fit for you and your goals. This is a big decision, so listen to what your intuition is telling you.
Trust HomeSmart
An outstanding real estate agent can make all the difference when buying or selling a home. An agent backed by an outstanding brokerage can deliver even more advantages. HomeSmart provides the latest technology and
training to our brokers and agents, who then use our resources to deliver the best results for their clients.
With more than 18,000 agents worldwide, HomeSmart is committed to transforming the real estate experience for buyers and sellers alike. Visit us Today at https://gregmyers.org/.
An outstanding real estate agent like Greg Myers can make all the difference when buying or selling a home.
Advantages for Homebuyers
Looking for a new home should be an exciting process, but buyers can easily become discouraged if they aren’t seeing options in their price range, desired neighborhood, square footage, or anything else that deviates from their ideal purchase. You should never settle for a home that’s just OK—this is too big a life event to just find something adequate.
Working with a real estate agent like Greg Myers to buy a home comes with many real advantages that are difficult to enjoy if you are on your own.
You should never settle for a home that’s just OK—this is too big a life event to just find something adequate.
AN EXPERT IN YOUR CORNER
Homebuyers, especially first-time homebuyers in Colorado, are surprised by the myriad of steps, processes, and documents involved in purchasing a house.
Keeping track of everything may feel overwhelming; understanding when something is a red flag can seem impossible and make the entire homebuying journey more daunting than it should be.
You may not be an expert at real estate, which is why partnering with a qualified agent is so critical. A great agent helps with home walkthroughs, identifying problems that look otherwise fine to you. Greg Myers can also help you make sense of the inspection report, navigate the reams of paperwork involved with buying a home, and educate you about all the other little things that you may not know about.
KNOWLEDGE OF THE MARKET
Your local housing market may be unpredictable, with home values exploding one year and simmering down the next and certain neighborhoods becoming highly coveted or more affordable over time. Although you can track such trends yourself, a real estate agent will better understand the pulse of the market and anticipate changes. With this market knowledge, Greg Myers can:
- Direct you toward neighborhoods better suited to your needs, wish list, budget, and borrowing capabilities
- Determine how a home you’re interested in compares to similar properties
- Help you accurately present an offer price based on current market conditions
INTANGIBLES
Buying a home is exciting and fraught with a bit of peril. Of course, it’s a big move financially, but it’s also a decision about what you consider home. With so much at stake, you need an advisor who understands all the intangibles about homebuying, from the first property you visit together all the way
to closing.
For example, you may walk through the home of your dreams and be ready to make an offer, but your agent may see problems with the kitchen, the yard, or the garage that aren’t immediately apparent to you. Or your agent may notice that the seller is especially motivated to sell and becomes suspicious as to why the asking price is so low. A real estate agent like Greg Myers is more than a professional—he is a teammate to help you realize and cherish your homeownership dreams.
CONTRACTS
The amount of paperwork involved in buying a house, especially at closing, may seem excessive, but it is necessary. The contracts and other things you’ll be filling out and signing may be legal requirements, but they also exist for your protection—this isn’t something you should wing on your own.
A real estate agent like Greg Myers of Castle Rock, CO ensures that everything looks good with contracts and explains what you’re reading when it’s your time to review. Also, many agents accompany buyers to closing to help answer any questions you have as you’re signing documents, and signing and signing and signing ...
MARKET KNOWLEDGE AND ACCURATE PRICING
Local real estate markets are fickle—sometimes they surge, sometimes they fall, and sometimes they befuddle homeowners who are sure they’ll sell quickly, only to watch their listings languish. Knowing how much houses are selling for and where the market is heading is essential for making the most from your investment and moving into a new home as soon as possible. Too many FSBO sellers underestimate or overestimate the market and lose money in the process.
Working with a real estate agent who is an expert in the local housing market can help eliminate some of the inherent uncertainty that comes with any home sale. Perhaps more importantly, a smart agent can help accurately price your home so that you avoid overestimating the market while still generating interest and commanding profitable offers from buyers.
STAGING
Impressing potential buyers is tricky when your house looks too much like … your home. Cluttered, personalized spaces may be fully functional and suit your family fine, but they prevent buyers from imagining the property as their home. Preparing your home for sale may require something known in the real estate industry as “staging.”
Staging makes your home appear as simple and elegant as possible. It may involve measures such as:
- Decluttering tables, counters, and rooms
- Putting away personal effects, such as photographs and your kids’ artwork, from walls, mantles, tables, and the refrigerator
- Removing drapes, throw rugs, and some furniture to give the home a more open feel
- Rearranging the remaining furniture to create the illusion of more space
- Minimizing the number of items in closets
- Putting any other perceived clutter into storage
Deciding which steps to take when staging can feel daunting—for example, is this vase inviting or just in the way?—but real estate agents can help because they are authorities in knowing what will appeal to and turn off prospective buyers. An agent walking through the house pointing out, “Change this; put that into storage; leave this,” puts you on the right track toward creating an environment that impresses visitors.
MARKETING YOUR PROPERTY
You’re selling your home, but is the sign on the front lawn enough to pique people’s interest? Even in today’s digital world with tools such as Zillow and Trulia, it’s not. Great agents like Greg Myers work multiple channels, including text messaging, social media, their own websites, buyer’s agents, and, of course, a dynamic open house to market your home.
The time agents put into marketing is key, but the effort they put in is even more important—agents know which messaging and images will impress prospective buyers and how to foster relationships that lead to sales. The balance is tricky, which is why sellers fare better working with an agent rather than trying to market their homes alone.
NEGOTIATIONS
Home sales negotiations are delicate—you want to complete the sale and move on, but you also want to earn as much as possible from the deal. The challenge comes in convincing buyers to pay as much as possible without deciding they can’t afford your home. If sellers aren’t careful, they could leave money on the table or, alternately, scare away a prospective buyer and need to restart the selling process from square one.
Greg Myers works towards not only earning you as much as possible from the sale but also protecting you from getting fleeced. They also act
as a voice of reason on when to accept an offer and when to consider walking away.
How to Choose a Real Estate Agent
In some ways, finding a top-notch real estate agent today isn’t much different than searching for other services: People rely on online reviews, word of mouth, and referrals to narrow down their choices, then take the next steps to make a decision. With a real estate agent, however, the stakes are higher because you’re also looking for an advisor, a teacher, a guide, and a friend. Doyour homework when researching an agent, then take it a step further with the following tips:
LOOK AT EXPERIENCE, TRAINING, AND ENTHUSIASM
Obviously, experience is a key consideration when hiring any professional— and real estate agents are no exception. Turning to an agent whose name you’ve seen on yard signs for years can provide a sense of confidence that this person knows the business and will work diligently to sell your home or find you one to buy.
ASK QUESTIONS
No real estate agent should be annoyed with you asking questions, and the best ones will answer you right away or find you the answers if they don’t know. Don’t be afraid to ask many questions, even if you think some are basic or even a little obvious. Write them down so you don’t forget. Also, don’t hesitate to ask questions about money, whether it’s the fee/commission you’ll pay the agent or the fees you’ll incur during the buying or selling process.
LISTEN AND UNDERSTAND
Similarly, a good real estate agent like Greg Myers will explain things in simple, bottom-line language. If one who you’re evaluating starts throwing out big terms with no explanation behind them—or even after you ask for one, you still don’t understand—you likely won’t understand them later when the sale becomes more complex.
A great way to further determine how an agent interacts with clients and prospects is to visit an open house and see them in action. Visit their social media accounts and read and listen to what they’re saying. If agents are speaking intelligently and enthusiastically to the public, more than likely, they’ll be just as knowledgeable and positive with you one-on-one.
A great way to further determine how an agent interacts with clients and prospects is to visit an open house and see them in action.
