It may appear simpler, more profitable, and enticing to take on the responsibilities of preparing and selling your home all on your own, but there are serious issues that could endanger the sale. To help put things into perspective, let’s go over 4 downsides of selling your home on your own in Atlanta:
Pricing
One of the most important things that will make or break any home sale is making sure it is priced appropriately for the current market.
Owners have a tendency to overestimate their home’s worth due to the inclusion of sentimental value, and an agent helps to separate that sentimentality from your sale scenario. By looking at the final closing price of other similar homes in your area over the last few years, an agent will consider other market factors and come to a reasonable pricing conclusion.
That’s not to say you have to accept their idea of a fair price, but their local market knowledge is invaluable in getting your home sale off to a spectacular start.
Attempting to determine your home’s initial asking price on your own could not just make a negative first impression for potential buyers, but act as a dark cloud hanging over your entire sale. An initial asking price that is too high will make buyers scoff and assume you are unrealistic in your expectations, while a low price signals that there could be something wrong or in serious disrepair on your property.
In either case, you’re beginning a financial transaction on a shaky relationship because the buyers are coming from a place of unease and doubt.
Fewer Resources
Every agent worth their salt comes equipped with a stable of professional contacts they have cultivated over the years, including everything from photographers to provide stellar sets of images for your listing to contractors if emergency repairs are needed can be at your disposal.
If you have already moved out and you believe staging would help out during open houses, chances are your agent has furniture ready to go or knows a decorator that can help out in that time of need.
When you hire an agent you’re bringing with them all of these professional contacts that you could utilize to give your property that extra boost that assists in getting the offers going.
Marketing
Another substantial part of selling a home is pushing the marketing to get the word out.
Once interested parties begin to come forward, you may discover that your messaging needs to be tweaked to better cater to that demographic, and an agent has a trained eye for these specific details.
Agents in your locale have years of experience seeing which demographics appear to be interested in what neighborhoods and certain aspects of a property. Your agent can then target these different factors in order to both spread the word and hit those most likely to come out and take a look at your home.
Attempting to accomplish this task by owners representing themselves is often left to sharing posts on social media and hoping it finds the right buyer over a long enough period of time.
The Details
Finally, trying to sell your home on your own means dealing with a lot of paperwork and terminology that can be very confusing.
On its own, this wouldn’t be such a big deal, but failing to dot your I’s and cross your T’s on every bit of necessary paperwork could land you in hot water down the road. If you absolutely must sell your home on your own, we absolutely encourage you to employ the services of a local real estate attorney to provide protections for both yourself and the buyer.
No one wants to find themselves in court in a few months due to a recordkeeping snafu.
Help Selling Your Home in Atlanta
If you don’t want to try selling your home on your own in Atlanta but need a trusted partner, contact us today at (404) 977-5054!