When you get started selling your house in the present market, you will want to consider whether or not to actually list your house on the multiple listing service with an agent or broker. There are many things to consider as you make your decision about listing your house or not, but whether or not you make the choice to list it, there are still some things you need to consider regarding various ways to advertise your house. To tell you the truth, I am constantly astonished when I hear sellers start complaining about their real estate agents, and how their agent “isn’t doing anything...” Well, first of all, unless a seller is following his or her agent around all day long there’s no way of knowing exactly what is being done to market a particular home. So, I am going a completely different direction in this article.
I may be the first one to tell you, but selling your house is actually not your agent’s job. It’s your own job. You can hire an agent to help you, but the responsibility is still your own. And your phone is not going to ring unless you personally do something to make that happen. I am talking to you now, not to your agent. As the seller, you must take steps to market your own house because that’s the way it works in the present market place. Are you wondering what you can do to market your house yourself? There are two main things you can do. First, you can post your house on craigslist and also on ebay classifieds. Those are two great forums that buyers visit on a daily basis when they are seriously looking for a new home in a certain area. Those sites are divided into geographical areas, so you post exactly where your house is located, and buyers looking in your area will see your house posted. This is the number one suggestion I have for you when you’re selling your house.
My second suggestion involves holding your own open houses. That’s right, I’m suggesting that you put a sign in your yard and advertise in the newspaper and the local, weekly shopper so that people know about it ahead of time. Many agents are too busy to hold open houses for their clients, but nothing is stopping you from holding your own. So, that’s what I’m saying here, you should plan to hold your own open houses, perhaps weekly.
This might sound outlandish to you, and you many be thinking, “… why is he suggesting things that my agent should be doing?” But the reality is that you have nothing to lose by jumping into marketing your home yourself. Regardless of whether your agent agrees with you or not, you are the property owner. It’s your home and you can show it to prospective buyers, too. Just remember, you will still have the obligation to pay a real estate commission if you have signed a listing agreement. Marketing you own home doesn’t negate the agreement you signed with your agent, not at all.
Now, we’ll just assume you have placed classified ads and you are holding open houses when you’re selling your house. As a result, you’re getting calls. So, you are handling those calls yourself or passing them along to your agent. Either way, you have the contact information for prospective buyers who have questions and who usually want to see your house because they are curious, or you actually have prospective buyers who are interested, having already toured your house. This is the point where your agent’s professional expertise can really kick in. He or she can help negotiate offers and produce legal sales agreements. And that’s just for starters. Next comes the closing process and that’s the phase of a transaction where your agent really earns a commission.