Selling Without An Agent? Here's What Could Go Wrong

Lured by the idea of saving money by not hiring a real estate agent and rather go for-sale-by-owner way? Think before you plan to do this. You never know that rather than saving money you are keeping a lot at stake knowing that an agent will have a better knowledge about the market than you do. After all, it is an agent that is involved in the real estate business full time while your expertise lies in another field.

MakaaniQ lists mistakes that you might make when selling your property without an agent:

Going overboard with property pricing

Unknown to the current market trend you might end up overpricing or underpricing your property. Well, the outcome? Your property will remain on the market for a long time with no takers. While you can learn about the ongoing asking price of properties in your locality through online real estate advisories, you might end up pricing your property on the upper limit of the asking price. You could do this for two reasons. First, thinking that your property is at par or better than other properties in the locality or second, that the buyer would negotiate and bring down the price anyway so why not price it higher. This emotional connect with the property can make it stay on longer in the market. Think through and price the property a little less than the average asking price of the properties in your locality to grab more eyeballs.

Negotiations can get awkward

Negotiations are the deal makers or breakers and getting involved in this process can be awkward. It can even sour terms with the buyer. Even if you are a seasoned salesperson or have great negotiation skills, a buyer with an agent will steal the show from you.

Also read: 3 Reasons Why Your Home Sale Negotiations Can Go Wrong

A buyer's agent would not prefer your property

Selling without an agent can repel the buyers' agents. They take a step back as sure of not getting a professional set up and in fact at times fear to help the seller out, too, with the paperwork later and not even get paid for it. For purely professional reasons a buyer's agent would never get his client to your property. They might turn up only if you are selling your property at a very low price compared to the average asking price.

A smaller network

Working without an agent? You will have a smaller network of potential homebuyers. This would only include people who approached you through word of mouth or people who contacted you after you listed your property on online real estate advisories. On the other hand, the agent, apart from all of this, will come up with a list of his own potential clients. This could include people who approached him as buyers, people who purchased property through him or even buyers that some of his other agent friends suggested.

Staging could go awry

Staging, a critical element of making your property saleable, can go wrong. You might deck up the property according to your taste but what if the buyer doesn't share the same taste in décor? It could be a turn off for the buyer if he/she cannot visualise the property the way he wants it to be. Moreover, you might not be able to see if there are any architectural defects in your property that you would need to mend before hanging the "for sale" board. An agent will not just help you stage but will also figure out ways to mend the defects in your property.

Also read: Why You Must Try Virtual Staging Right Now

Wasting time on unwanted property visits

Can't differentiate between a potential and not-so-worthy buyer? You might end up entertaining everyone and arranging multiple property visits. This whole process could be tiring, time-consuming and even expensive. In office on a Saturday? The homebuyer may only be free on this day to make a property visit. You are on crossroads thinking which way to go. What if the homebuyer finalises the deal? With that thought, you end up taking every property visit seriously. But, an agent comes to rescue here. While you sit in your office doing your job, he would be doing his by taking the potential buyers for a visit. 

Also Read: 11 Things To Do Before You Sell Your Home