You’ve painted the walls, cleaned up the yard and hired a house cleaner to come in for a deep clean. It’s time for the sign “For Sale” to go up in the front yard right? Independently selling your home can be rewarding and challenging. Rewarding in the sense of accomplishment, challenging because this isn’t what you do daily – the real estate market changes, trends rise and fall and what buyers are looking for varies depending on the area in which you are selling your home.
There are ways to simplify the process of selling your home, and most of the time selling a home requires more than adding some paint to the walls and cutting the grass. Often times a home requires a bit of staging to be ready for that impressive open house, cookies are a great addition the day of showing, however if the rest of the house doesn’t look like a place to call home, it won’t matter how delicious the baked cookies smell – the open house may not be a success.
3 Tips for Finding the Right Real Estate Agent for You
New Perspective: When searching for the right real estate agent to work with you during this process, that from time to time can be emotional, it’s important you like the person with whom you choose to work with. A real estate agent will be able to come in and provide a new perspective as to how the staging of the house can work quickly in the process of selling your home, however if you don’t like the ideas and the new perspective the agent brings, it will make the process flow go slower rather than speed it up.
Interview: We all know what it is like to interview for a new position. Finding the right real estate agent to work with is no different, than let’s say hiring a new person for a job. Make a list of questions that you feel are important to know about the agent, this way you are prepared when speaking with them. Call a few real estate agents and have your first interview over the phone. Once you’ve narrowed your choices, make an appointment to meet them face-to-face, this will allow you to see their body language to help you decide if they are the right one for you. It’s a good idea to host this interview at your home, so they can look around at the property and you can see if their ideas and plan for the sale matches what you vision.
Use a real estate agent directory: Why spend countless hours searching online to sift through hundreds of agent profiles, websites and reviews when you could use a directory that has done some of the vetting for you. Real estate agent directories like RealEstateAgent.com, provides a searchable feature that helps you in finding the agent that is the best fit for you. Simply put, homeowners can use one site to search for agents in their zip code, call them and interview them which simplifies the searching process for finding a good agent. In a directory they are in one spot, leaving you more time to pack boxes, and find your new home!
It’s normal to feel overwhelmed and emotional during this process. A real estate agent will help take the additional stress off during this process. When selling your home, allow the emotions to come and go they are normal. Lean on your real estate agent to help you make decisions about getting buyers into your home, staging the home and making some of the tough decisions during this process. It is a process, enjoy the journey of giving your home to a new family who will love and nurture it.
