Do you need a real estate agent to sell your house?

In a word, no. You don’t technically need a real estate agent in order to actually physically and legally go through the process of selling your home. However, if the question becomes SHOULD you hire a real estate agent, experienced agents such as Deo Gahiza should a resounding yes.

You may shy away from the idea of hiring an agent to sell your house because of that nasty word: commission. Yes, you will be required to pay your agent a commission on the sale of your home (typically about 6 percent of the sale price to be split with the buying agent). That may seem like a lot, but when you consider that historically homes sold by an agent get upwards of $10,000 or more than comparable homes sold by the seller, and that it only takes an additional few days on the market to fetch that higher price, you begin to see why it’s worth hiring a real estate agent to sell your home.

When deciding whether or not to hire an agent to sell your home, it’s important to consider what the agent actually does for you. More than just fetching a higher selling price, they take care of many of the tasks you would have to otherwise tackle on your own. When you sell your home yourself, you’ll have to:

Understand contracts and other legal documents involved in the process of buying and selling a home

Understand the market and how to position your home at a reasonable price that will be fair for you and yet not so high that you price yourself out of the market

Find a suitable home for yourself to buy

Understand things like inspections and your rights and obligations as the seller

Negotiate a good deal for yourself

Understand how things like land transfer taxes work

And much more

The process of buying and/or selling a house is a complex process. It’s not simply a matter of finding a house that meets your needs, making an offer and signing on the dotted line. To get a great deal and ensure that everything goes through legally and through the proper channels, it’s advisable that you get a real estate agent. They can help you at every step of the process, and ensure that you are doing thing as you should and getting a good deal to boot.

It can seem as though having to pay your real estate agent a commission on the sale of your own house, but when you stop to consider all of the help that that commission pays for, it’s worth it. Sure, you could sell your home on your own and buy your next one right from the owner himself, but it’s not advised. Unless you are very versed in every aspect of the process, there is a potential for things to go wrong. Protect yourself and your investment by hiring an agent to be part of your team.