How to Sell a House With a Realtor, From Home Prep to Closing Day
When you’re selling a house with a Realtor®, you immediately have a common goal: sell the property in the least amount of time, for the most money possible. Whether you’d like to be extremely hands-on during this process or need your Realtor to take the reins a little more, you’ll find success as partners in this journey.
“I tell my sellers that we are a team, and if they’ll do their part, I’m going to do my part,” says Brandi Abram, a top-selling real estate agent in Lawrence, Kansas.
You and your Realtor both bring critical insights to the table. As the property owner, you know your house better than anyone. Meanwhile, your Realtor has market knowledge. They can recommend key updates, advise you against unnecessary expenses, and market the home based on an expert assessment of local market conditions.
Still, working with a Realtor can be a new and confusing experience if you’ve never done it before. Consult this guide on how to sell a house with a Realtor, and you’ll be sure to make a great team.
Note: A Realtor is not exactly the same thing as a real estate agent, though they’re similar. A real estate agent is someone who’s been licensed by the state to help transact real estate. A Realtor is a member of the National Association of Realtors. Realtors are almost always real estate agents, but not all real estate agents are Realtors.
Find a great Realtor to sell your house
No sports team drafts new players without first evaluating their talent, statistics, and performance record. Unfortunately, too many homeowners fail to do the same due diligence when hiring the Realtor who’ll help them sell their most valuable asset. In fact, 81% of recent sellers hired the first agent they met.
That’s a risky move, considering there are over 1.5 million active Realtors in the U.S. and a huge difference in outcomes from top agents compared to average agents. In fact, HomeLight data shows that the top 5% of agents across the U.S. help clients sell their homes for as much as 10% more than the average real estate agent.
