With the Market’s Low Inventory, Selling your Home without an Agent is a Bad Idea

Selling your home right now might seem like a no brainer. You read the news and it says that buyers are actively searching for and purchasing homes, looking to capitalize on today’s historically low interest rates, but there just aren’t enough houses for sale to meet that growing need. Sam Khater, Chief Economist at Freddie Mac, explains:

“Mortgage rates have hit another record low due to a late summer slowdown in the economic recovery…These low rates have ignited robust purchase demand activity…However, heading into the fall it will be difficult to sustain the growth momentum in purchases because the lack of supply is already exhibiting a constraint on sales activity.”

Selling during a low inventory period is a way to sell your home quickly and for a good price. It might seem so easy you can do it yourself. It’s natural to wonder if real estate commissions are one way to save money, but it would be a mistake. A good real estate agent might make it seem easy, but the fact is that selling your own home could actually cost you thousands of dollars.

5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Sell Your Home without an Agent

1. The Safety of Your Home and Family is a Priority – With social distancing guidelines and safety in these trying times, having a real estate agent means you have someone to protect your home and your family. A real estate agent controls access to your home and can vet potential buyers before allowing them to see your place.

2. Most Serious Buyers Start their Search Online – Especially in today’s market, everyone begins their home search online. Working with a real estate agent means your home will be marketed in a professional listing area. Agents have an established digital presence that your personal Facebook cannot replicate.

3. The Buyer Might not be Qualified – In a low inventory market, there will be more eyes on your house than ever and it’s hard to know who is a qualified buyer. A real estate agent knows how to qualify a buyer and what to look for with lender letters. There’s nothing worse than wasting time and real estate agents prevent you from doing just that.

4. You Don’t Know How to Price or Negotiate Properly – Considering the lack of competitors on the market, you want to price your home accordingly. There are several factors that go into pricing a home and a real estate agent has years’ worth of experience to make that call. Moreover, every aspect of a real estate transaction is negotiable. You don’t want to miss out on fruitful negotiations because you lack the know-how.

5. You Could Expose Yourself to Liability – Required disclosures and paperwork for a home sale is extensive; unless you plan to use an attorney, you could miss critical disclosures and expose yourself to financial harm.

Finally, more often than not, sellers net more when they use an agent than when they try to do it themselves. In a low inventory market, your home may sell fast. With a real estate agent, it will sell faster at a proper price, ensuring you get the best possible sales price and terms with minimal hassle.

HOMM Real Estate Services, located in the Brandon, Florida, Tampa is focused to Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk Counties. As a full-service general real estate company, we specialize in general real estate, home buyers, home sellers, new home construction, rentals, tenants and landlords and property management.