All About Greenville SC Real Estate

Five Reasons You Need to Hire a Realtor

Whether buying or selling a home, you need the input of a professional to avoid making costly mistakes. Below are the top five core reasons you need a qualified realtor to sell or buy your home.

1. Expert Representation

If you're selling your home, you'll hire a listing agent. If you're buying a home, you'll employ a buyers' agent. In either case, it's essential to know how good representation can ensure you don't make a costly mistake.

• Listing Agent - A good listing agent will have a substantial home selling network built up. Thorough marketing and the ability to "put on a show" through home staging is also a key indicator you're in the right hands.

• Buyer's Agent - The best and most obvious thing a good buyer's agent will do is find a home that matches your requirements. An experienced buyer's agent will help the process of buying a home much more straightforward, as they often have insider access to the latest home offerings.

2. Reliable Feedback

Fiduciary responsibility is a law that ensures realtors have a buyer's best interest in mind when they sell you a home. This law ensures your agent is working on your behalf and providing honest consultation. If there are issues with your house, a qualified realtor is better equipped to give objective feedback.

3. One-Stop Search Solution

If you don't have a qualified realtor to sell or buy your home, you're missing out on a valuable resource - a shopper. When you hire a realtor, you automatically gain access to multiple listing services (MLS), a shared database that allows listing and selling brokers to connect to sell homes. An agent also saves you the trouble (and money!) of advertising to sell your home, while the MLS helps the agent search for the latest listings to help better sell the property.

4. The Art of Negotiation

Negotiating yourself can be tricky if you don't know all the intricate parts of the housing market. Good negotiating skills are one of the realtor's primary functions. Remember, they do this for a living and can incorporate strategies, such as price comparisons to benefit their client. A realtor will sell your home for the best price at the end of the day, even after they receive their commission.

5. Handling the Paperwork

Dealing with paperwork, particularly at closing time, can be a headache. There are title considerations, closing statements, and potential, unforeseen issues that realtors can help solve. For example, your closing process requires part of the balance to be paid upfront, transfer of warranty deeds, and proof of insurance if you're financing. Real estate agents can handle the myriad of paperwork that comes with finalizing a home purchase, as well as any problems that might arise.

Final Word

A qualified realtor will not only ensure you get the best price for your home, but it will also reduce a tremendous amount of stress for you. From the staging process right through to closing, the realtor will be with you to advise and help make the process run smoothly.