Buying or selling a home is a big deal in lots of ways. It’s possibly the largest financial transaction of your life and involves a host of legal intricacies. You can, of course, do it all on your own without the assistance of a real estate professional, using a for sale by owner set up on either end. But should you? To help you decide, here are our 5 reasons you need to hire a professional when buying or selling a house in Oklahoma City.
1. Objectivity
The first reason you should hire a professional when buying or selling a house in Oklahoma City is that an agent can provide objectivity. This is something both buyers and sellers are often sorely lacking. And without objectivity, you aren’t likely to get the best deal.
If you’re a seller and you’ve lived in the house any length of time, you have an emotional attachment to it. It is, after all, the place you’ve made your home and where you’ve raised your kids. The problem here is that you may, because of this emotional attachment, be offended by low offers and drive away potential buyers. On the other hand, if you’re a buyer, you may fall so in love with certain features that you overlook major flaws.
Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, these emotions will hinder your negotiating ability and your ability to rationally consider all factors. An agent can help you achieve some objectivity and so help you avoid a financial blunder.
2. Marketing
You also need to hire a professional when buying or selling a house in Oklahoma City for her marketing expertise. Sellers can’t just stick a for-sale sign in the front yard and hope for the best, and buyers usually see little success at finding what they want by just driving around. A few especially successful agents invest up to 30% of their commission in marketing.
Today, real estate marketing involves more than listing on a few sites and buying a classified ad in the local paper. It takes top-notch listing photos, staging, and inventive online marketing, even virtual tours. It also requires a good measure of copywriting skill for the descriptions in the listings. Some agencies even have a marketing expert on staff to handle these matters.
3. Pricing
Maybe the primary marketing tool is judicious, strategic pricing. And to get the pricing right, you need to hire a professional when buying or selling a house in Oklahoma City. This is especially critical for sellers.
The critical time for selling a home is the very first week it is listed. After a few weeks, it is considered past its selling prime. That’s why pricing right is so utterly important. If you price too high, your house will languish unsold on the market, and buyers will then begin to think something is wrong with it. Price too low, and buyers will automatically think something is wrong with the house.
By performing a comparative market analysis, your agent can determine the right price range for a quick sale. An agent can also help buyers avoid overpaying with the same pricing tool. If you get the price wrong, you pretty well shoot yourself in the foot as a seller.
4. Negotiations and Paperwork
Another crucial skill for sellers and buyers is negotiating – if you want to get the best sale price possible or if you don’t want to wind up overpaying for a lemon. But most of us don’t have this skill because it takes years of training and experience. That’s why you need to hire a professional when buying or selling a house in Oklahoma City.
In addition, there’s a ton of paperwork involved in the sale of real estate, especially at closing, and most of it has legal ramifications. Do you really want to handle all that on your own and run the risk of landing in legal hot water? When you hire a professional to take care of it, that professional assumes all the associated legal liability.
5. Things that Matter
A final good reason to hire a professional when buying or selling a house in Oklahoma City is so that you don’t invest time, labor, and money in the unimportant things. If you’re a seller, you may think you need to remodel the kitchen. But your agent will help you see that all you need is a new range and a new mailbox. And again if you’re a buyer, it’s easy to notice and get hung up on the smaller flaws and alienate the seller with a lowball offer.
Sellers need to make sure they make repairs and upgrades that will yield a good return on the investment at sale time. Buyers should concentrate on those matters that are genuine concerns when negotiating for a lower price or concessions. An agent can be an invaluable asset here.