The Complexity of Selling Real Estate
Real estate agents are forced to wear a lot of hats, and the really good ones know how to wear them well. There truly is no shortage of minefields (and opportunities!). Take, for example, regulatory compliance. Real estate transactions are highly regulated, with a lot of ways for sellers to unwittingly break serious federal and state laws, as well as local ordinances in many cases. Federal Fair Housing laws alone are enough to require that licensed real estate agents spend several hours every year in continuing education to review them, to keep their license active. Or take market expertise—how many homeowners really, truly ‘know the market’? No, really: How many people even know how to determine if it is a seller’s market or buyer’s market? After all, there is no quick point of reference, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, to see ‘where the market is today.’ And even if there was, how many consumers would have any idea about what the typical different characteristics you’d find at ground level between a market with a 3-month supply of inventory, 2-month supply and 1-month supply? Understanding the market, and the subtle nuances of buyers, is critical to pricing and preparing a home. And in my experience, the market that most agents perceive was the market of a few months ago, and the market that most consumers perceive was the market of 6-12 months ago.
Home prep—there is another area of enormous complexity. Most homeowners simply do not know how to best invest their time and money in preparing their home for showings, to position themselves to net the most money on their sale (which is something that, studies show, the vast majority of sellers want). Watching shows on HGTV might feel like a good primer on selling, but in fact, I have found in my experience, more often leads homeowners down the wrong path. In many cases I’ve had sellers reach out to me with plans for spending more on improvements than I recommend. Yes, I’ve actually talked them out of doing things, many times.
The good news is that when you work with me on your sale, you don’t have to figure all this out. I’ve got it covered. I’m in the trenches every day. I know what’s going on, understand all the forms at a high enough level that I teach them to other agents, and have the experience of negotiating hundreds of contentious transactions.