What Can a Real Estate Agent Do That You Can’t? 5 Things That Only Come With Experience

1. Agents make an unbiased evaluation of your home

Many homeowners look at their property through the rose-colored glasses of happy memories made in the home.

The deck, even though it’s falling apart, is where you hosted many a barbecue. You can hear the sound of the kids unwrapping Christmas gifts in the living room. The pencil marks measuring heights through the years tug at your heart strings.

All homeowners have an emotional relationship with their homes, and that connection makes figuring out what your home is worth that much harder.

Few buyers even bother to look at houses that are overpriced. And if buyers don’t see your home, they won’t make an offer.

Luckily, real estate agents evaluate your property without the vision-clouding emotional attachment that you have as a homeowner. Just ask Kim Erwin, a top-selling real estate agent in Corpus Christi, Texas:

“I’ve been selling real estate for over 36 years, and the trick is understanding the mortgage industry within your community and looking at the house through the eyes of the buyer.”

Without that emotional baggage, an expert real estate agent can:

• Recommend the best areas to invest money in improvements or upgrades
• Identify which of your home’s assets are its best selling points
• Spot potential red flags that’ll cost you during the home inspection
• Calculate a realistic list price

Top notch agents are able to make these financially savvy recommendations because they’re experienced at preparing a comparative market analysis for your specific property. This entails a whole lot more than just looking up what nearby homes sold for.

2. Agents prepare an in-depth comparative market analysis

It’s true that there are a number of sites that can provide you with a ballpark estimate of your property’s current value — including HomeLight’s own Home Value Estimator. Our home value estimator uses information from multiple sources to create a real-time home value estimate based on current market trends. It’s also enhanced by your insights, and the little things that make your home different.

Using an estimator is a great way to a ballpark idea of what your home is worth. However, online home valuation tools provide just that: Estimates.

But when you’re actually ready to sell, an estimate isn’t good enough.

An agent knows how to compile and evaluate a more comprehensive set of statistics of comparable homes sold. Your agent will:

• Compare the list price vs. the final sale price for each comp
• Evaluate the impact of home improvements on each comp’s final sales price
• Account for any upgrades you’ve done to your home, proximity to restaurants, a big yard, and trending features
• Calculate how various listing price points impacted each comp’s number of days on the market
• Research insider data, including: list price reductions and how many showings each property had
• Assess local market trends based on recently sold, pending sales, and soon-to-be-listed properties that will be your competition
• Determine which marketing strategies work best in your neighborhood

The compilation and evaluation of all this in-depth data is how your real estate agent decides on the best list price recommendation for your property. Without it, you’ll either end up leaving money on the table, or your overpriced property won’t sell — no matter how well you market it.

3. Agents work their industry connections

Successful real estate agents know the importance of developing professional relationships. Top seller’s agents network to:

• Meet and keep clients
• Connect with buyer’s agents to find potential buyers for their clients
• Build a database of the best contractors, landscapers, painters, and other home improvement professionals to recommend to their clients
• Forge connections with title companies, appraisers, home inspectors, and financial institutions to get their clients the best deals

These relationships are the reason you not only want to hire an agent to help you sell your home — you need to hire that agent the moment you decide to sell.

Some homeowners mistakenly wait to enlist the help of an agent until after they’ve invested time and money in home improvements.

But if you don’t involve your agent in the prepping to sell process, you’ll wind up spending your time and money on the wrong improvements, and you’ll hire the wrong professionals to help you. Agents who’ve spent years selling homes in your area know which contractors, builders, painters, and landscapers will do the best work for the best prices.

Your agent uses connections with buyer’s agents to get the word out about your home even before it’s officially listed. Your agent may make calls, arrange a broker open, and even attend local real estate pitch sessions. All this behind-the scenes networking your agent does on your behalf is why you’re likely to get multiple offers within the first days and weeks on the market.

4. Agents vet buyers to save you time

There’s a reason why 63% of top agents don’t recommend open houses for the general public anymore. They tend to attract lookie-loos rather than serious buyers.

Serious buyers who’ve taken the financial steps to qualify for a home loan tend to prefer private showings so they can take their time evaluating your home’s potential. But there’s no point in arranging a private showing for a buyer who can’t afford to purchase your property.

That’s why many seller’s agents check up on the finances of potential buyers before accepting an offer or even arranging a showing of your home.

“I qualify every buyer before we even get started,” says Erwin. “Sellers don’t realize all the time that it takes to get the buyers qualified.”

The best agents will ask potential buyers or their agents:

• Is your buyer pre-qualified or pre-approved for a home loan?
• What amount and type of loan has your buyer qualified for?
• Is the offer contingent upon the sale of your buyer’s current home?
• How much of a down payment or earnest money can your buyer afford?

By asking these kinds of questions, your agent both pre-qualifies potential buyers and get a solid understanding of the buyer’s financial situation to prepare for negotiating the final deal.

5. Agents negotiate with insider knowledge on their side

FSBO home sellers often end up negotiating counteroffers and navigating bidding wars from a weaker position. Why? Because they’re pitting wits with a buyer’s agent who handles home sale negotiations every day.

As a result, FSBO sellers risk leaving money on the table by not driving a hard enough bargain, or even negotiating themselves right out of the sale by their unwillingness to compromise on the price.

On the other hand, when a savvy agent negotiates on your behalf you get to benefit from their years of bargaining experience. The best agents realize that there’s more to haggle over than the just the overall sales price. Agents can:

• Craft counteroffers that appeal to the buyer without promising too much
• Negotiate less obvious home sale expenses including: closing costs, home warranties, and other fees
• Renegotiate after a low appraisal without losing the seller too much money
• Recommend seller-paid closing costs in situations when it will actually net you more money

Experienced agents also know how to play defense against buyer’s agent negotiation tactics that an FSBO seller won’t know to guard against. An agent won’t let the buyer:

• Chip away at the seller’s profit by requesting concessions a little at a time
• Renegotiate a significantly lower price based on minor home inspection findings
• Slip potentially expensive contingencies into the final sales contract
• Use the threat of walking away entirely to manipulate the seller into making concessions

That’s why you need that agent to do all of the things you can’t or don’t know how to do. Through experience, agents learn the home improvement tips, selling strategies, and negotiating techniques that will sell your home faster and for the most amount of money.

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