Though a real estate agent offers many benefits, including years of expertise in the field, they are not for everyone. In fact, there are also a number of drawbacks that come with hiring a real estate agent that some sellers will wish to avoid at all costs.
It is important to make the right choice for your personal situation, so always be sure to consider these potential drawbacks when considering whether or not to hire a real estate agent.
Commission
Though a real estate agent will often help you to command a better price for your property, this is mitigated somewhat by the fact that they will often charge a hefty commission for making the sale for you.
In some cases this commission can be as much as 6% of the final sale value, which is an enormous dent in the amount of money that you will receive for selling the property. It is more than understandable that many people will not be comfortable with paying this sort of level of commission, especially if they believe that they can do the job themselves. If you think that you can handle all of the paperwork and have the time to adequately advertise the property then you can save a lot of money by selling the property on your own rather than using a real estate agent.
The Middle Man
Consider the following scenario – you are willing to sell and you have found a buyer that is willing to meet your asking price. The transaction should be a done deal as all that is left is to agree the final terms and complete the sale.
However, if a real estate agent is involved in the process they can occasionally hold things up and slow down the sale. They may wind up haggling with the buyer to try to get a little bit of money out of them or they could end up spending longer than you would like on the paperwork involved. In the worst case scenarios this can even lead to the sale completely falling through.
Complacency
Selling a property takes time and effort, which is why so many people do end up using a real estate agent. However, simply leaving the property in the hands of an agent can lead to you becoming complacent about the sale and not putting the effort that you need to put in to selling the property.
In some cases this isn’t a problem, especially if you have a diligent estate agent who is willing to do all of the work for you. However, if your real estate agent is dividing their time between a number of different clients you can almost guarantee that they won’t be spending as much time as you would like on trying to sell your property. This can lead to the home simply sitting on the market and not attracting the interest that it deserves.
If you don’t have a real estate agent you will be much more invested in the sales effort, which in turn means that you are more likely to get out there and try to find a buyer. This often speeds up the sales process considerably, in addition to ensuring that you fell more connected to the whole process.