Inman news has an interesting article today about the upside and downside of not using a real estate agent. Being not just an agent, but a Realtor, I’m sure you won’t be surprised to see me posting about why it is important to use a realtor.
Homebuyers and sellers hire agents to learn the process, understand current market value so they don’t sell too low or pay too much, and to facilitate moving the process through the various quagmires plaguing the current market-loan qualification, appraisal issues and renegotiations over property defects — to a successful closing.
Unrepresented buyers are at a big disadvantage if they’re in a multiple-offer competition. Most sellers and their agents would rather work with a buyer who is represented by an agent, preferably one with a good reputation for closing home-sale transactions.
You can read the entire article here. I think representing yourself usually falls under the general category of “penny wise, pound foolish”
Much of what we do as agents doesn’t happen in front of our clients, and there is often be a perception that our payment is unearned. I’ve seen numerous agents come into this business thinking it was going to be easy money, and after six months or a year those same people leave the industry for “easier” jobs. Add in the relatively low barriers to entry in the real estate industry (if you can pass a multiple choice test, you too can be an agent!) and you can see why the industry gets a bad rap. All it takes is one newbie agent to make some horrible mistakes in a transaction, and suddenly we all look dumb and overpaid. I don’t want to imply that only newbie agents make mistakes. We all make mistakes. But the best agents make significantly fewer mistakes, and ideally, catch them quick enough to rectify the situation.