7 Reasons to Use a Reputable Property Practitioner to Sell your House
When you sell your home, yourself is known as "for sale by owner" (FSBO) it may seem like a great way to save thousands of Rands. After all, the standard Property Practitioner's commission is 7% excluding VAT. We offer 5% excluding VAT when we receive a Mandate from a Seller (Advantages of Signing a Mandate). Given the size of this fee, you may think that acting as your own selling agent will surely be worth the savings. Here are seven reasons why you may want to reconsider.
1. Property Practitioners Avoid Emotional Sales
Selling your home is typically an emotional process. Having an agent keeps you one step removed and makes you less likely to make stupid mistakes, such as overpricing your home, refusing to counter a low offer because you're offended, or giving in too easily when you have a deadline for selling. Property Practitioners can follow up without communicating a sense of eagerness or desperation; following up is their job.
2. Real Estate Is a Full-Time Job
Can you rush home from work every time someone wants to see your home? Can you excuse yourself from a meeting every time your phone rings with a potential buyer? At the end of a long workday, do you have the energy to take advantage of every possible opportunity to market your home? Are you an expert in marketing homes?
Do you have any experience doing so? Your answer to all these questions is probably "NO".
3. Agents Access Large Networks
YES, you can list your home yourself on Private Property, Property24, Gumtree, and even the multiple listing service (MLS) that Property Practitioner use. But will that be enough? Even if you have a large personal or professional network, those people will likely have little interest in spreading the word that your house is for sale. You don't have relationships with clients, other Property Practitioners, or a real estate agency to bring the largest pool of potential buyers to your home.
A smaller pool of potential buyers means less demand for your property, which can translate into waiting longer to sell your home and possibly not getting as much money as your house is worth.
4. Weeding Out Unqualified Buyers
An agent can find out whether someone who wants to view your house is a qualified buyer or just a dreamer or curious neighbour. It's a lot of work and a major interruption every time you must put your life on hold, make your house look perfect, and show your home. You want to limit those hassles to the showings most likely to result in a sale.
Property Practitioners are trained to ask qualifying questions to determine the seriousness, qualification, and motivation of a prospect. Property Practitioners are also trained to ask closing questions about how long buyers have been looking, whether they've seen any other homes that would work for their needs, if they are paying cash or have been prequalified, what schools they are looking for, and so on.
5. Price Negotiations Take Skill
Even if you have sales experience, you don't have specialized experience negotiating a home sale. The Property Practitioner does, so they are more likely to succeed in the negotiation. Experienced Property Practitioners may have negotiated hundreds of home purchases.
Not only are you inexperienced; you're also likely to be emotional about the process, and without your Property Practitioner to point out when you're being irrational, you're more likely to make poor decisions.
6. You Ignore Your Home's Flaws
Property Practitioners are experts in what makes homes sell. They can walk through your home with you and point out changes you need to make to attract buyers and get the best offers. They can see flaws you're oblivious to because you see them every day-or because you simply don't view them as flaws. They can also help you determine which feedback from potential buyers you should act on after you put your home on the market to improve its chances of selling.
7. Exposure to Legal Risks
A lot of legal paperwork is involved in a home sale, and it needs to be completed correctly by an expert. One of the most important items is the seller's disclosures. A seller can be held liable for fraud, negligence, or breach of contract if they do not disclose properly.
Unless you're a real estate attorney, your Property Practitioner probably knows more about disclosure laws than you do. If you fail to disclose a hazard, nuisance, or defect-and the buyer comes back to you after having moved in and found a problem-the buyer could sue you.
The Bottom Line is it's a tall task to learn how to sell your house without a Property Practitioner and selling your home will likely be one of the biggest transactions of your life. You can try to do it alone to save money however, hiring an agent has many advantages. Property Practitioners can get broader exposure for your property, help you negotiate a better deal, dedicate more time to your sale, and prevent your emotions from sabotaging it. A Property Practitioner brings expertise, which few FSBO sellers have, to a complex transaction with many potential financial and legal pitfalls.
Whether you need a "Life+Style" Change, or if you are looking to downsize or upsize, or you need a holiday home to break away from the rat race; then give us a call, WhatsApp, send an email - your Property Matchmaker(s) are eagerly waiting to Match you with your new HOME...
We are never too busy for your referral: List your property with us
Please feel free to Subscribe to our Property Email Alerts
PROPERTYMATCHMAKER (PTY) LTD hereby warrants that it is registered with the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority and that it possesses a valid Fidelity Fund certificate issued by the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority
14 Mar 2022
Author Una van Jaarsveldt