How is buying real estate different from any other transaction? When you buy a car, for instance, you don’t need an agent to help you find the vehicle, negotiate the price and represent you during the transferal of ownership.
Are real estate professionals really necessary?
The answer is clear: Yes. Let’s dig into why — even in a world dominated by free-flowing information and resources for buyers and sellers — a professional realtor is as necessary as ever.
The Realtor’s Experienced Eye
Only about 13% of buyers purchase a new home. The other 87% are buying used homes. Each used home comes with a story, and some stories are happier than others.
An experienced Bay Area realtor shows their value because they know the following:
- What to look for
- The right questions to ask
- When to walk away from a sale
- How to find a “diamond in the rough”
When you get a professional realtor on your side, you automatically gain access to a full body of knowledge and experience. Armed with this, you’re far more likely to make a sound, wise investment.
Save Money With a Realtor in The Bay Area
While there are several ways realtors can help you keep your hard-earned cash in your pocket, the purchasing and selling process is perhaps the best example.
For Buyers
A realtor can not only provide an honest assessment of the value of the property you’re considering, but they can justify—or challenge—its value by comparing it to other properties in the area. Even the area itself can be factored in to determine the true value of the home. Even if you have a great eye for detail and an understanding of structural engineering and interior design, a realtor can offer you insights that would be virtually impossible to conceive on your own:
- The pricing history of similar homes in the area
- How construction projects in the immediate area may affect the value of your investment
- How economic trends in the area affect the value of the property
- Common issues residents in the area experience
- Hidden gems that add extrinsic value to a potential investment
Realtors commit themselves to learning the ins and outs of the neighborhoods in which they do deals, and the buyer benefits from that storehouse of knowledge.
For Sellers
A seller gets the benefit of the realtor’s interaction with buyers, which team the realtor how buyers think, what they value, and what may scare them away. All this knowledge can be used to support the seller during the negotiation process. Some insights include:
- Price points that make buyers nervous
- The general likelihood of a property sparking a bidding war
- Knowledge of specific buyers who are looking for a similar property
- How long it should take for a home to sell
When a realtor is facilitating the sale of your property, all this and more is used to help you get the most for your home.
Realtors are more than just the glue that holds the buying and selling processes together. They provide vast amounts of knowledge that help create both peace of mind and tangible value.