15 Things to Expect From an Expert Realtor When Selling Your Home
Although it sounds pretty straightforward, selling your home can be confusing and stressful if you’ve never done it before (and sometimes even if you have done it before!). But with the right realtor, it doesn’t have to be.
Whether you’re looking to sell your home now or in the near future, you probably already know that working with a realtor is one of the best ways to reduce the overwhelm because a lot of moving pieces happen when you sell a home.
From preparing your home for sale, setting a price, brainstorming a selling strategy, and negotiating with buyers, there is a lot of responsibility that goes into selling a home, and a realtor can help!
But how do you know if your realtor is good or what to expect from a realtor when selling your home if you’ve never worked with one or have never been through the selling process before?
Depending on the realtor you choose, you can experience a range of personalities and expertise. So, it’s important to work with an expert realtor who understands how stressful it can be to juggle it all on top of planning a move. A great realtor will want to make the home selling process as simple and streamlined as possible for their clients –at least that’s our goal here at Brandie Brojan Real Estate.
But if you’ve never worked with one before, what should you expect from your real estate agent?
If you’re curious about what to expect from a realtor when buying a home, I have a post that covers that topic here.
But from my experience as a homeowner, homebuyer, and realtor in New Jersey, I’ve come up with 15 things to expect from an expert realtor when selling your home.
Your Best Interests at Heart
A realtor should always have your best interests at heart during the sales process, meaning, they should always put your needs and interests above their own.
When selling a home, the main goal for your realtor is to get you the best price for your home and (depending on your timeline) sell your home promptly.
But they also need to be aware of your needs and desires to make this a seamless process for you. If you have a challenging buyer, a great realtor will try to deflect as much excess stress or drama from their clients as they can.
2. Kindness & Honesty
Kindness and Honesty should be a standard when you work with a realtor. If they are missing either of these qualities, I encourage you to stop working with them immediately (if legally possible).
All licensed real estate agents have a code of ethics and standards of practice,; if they aren’t adhered to, that realtor isn’t doing their job.
Don’t hesitate to ask your agent for previous seller referrals or information about clients they’ve represented in the past. By getting feedback from previous sellers and reading through testimonials and reviews, you should get a good feel of whether or not your realtor is honest and kind.
I have numerous client testimonials on my website highlighting how I helped them buy or sell their home. Testimonials can be powerful and subtly indicate what it was like working with you.
For example, on my website, I have a testimonial from a client that says, ‘We loved this home and Brandie was there to guide us every step of the way to ensure a smooth process. She treated our home as if it were her own, and we are so impressed with her expertise and compassion.”
3. Responsive Communication With You
A realtor should be in constant communication with you no matter what’s happening (or not happening) with the selling of your home. Should they send a text message every other hour? No. But if a potential buyer wants to view your home or the inspection person has to reschedule, or if you have a question about the process, or a new offer has just come on the table–your realtor should be responsive, informative, and communicative with you throughout the entire selling process.
4. Responsive Communication With Buyer Agents & Any Other Parties Involved
In addition to having a responsive and communicative relationship with you, your realtor should also be responsive and communicative with buyer agents, inspectors, appraisers, attorneys, and anyone involved in the process. The goal is to get your home sold. This involves many moving pieces, and excellent communication with everyone involved helps speed up the process and keep everyone happy and on board.
5. Effective Support in Finding the Right Buyers
Nobody wants to deal with challenging buyers –but it can happen…a lot. If you have buyers who want everything about the house changed before buying it, it’s probably more effort than worth. Or maybe an interested buyer can’t get a pre-approval for a home loan –it’s good to know this before you move any further in negotiations.
A realtor can mitigate these issues through strategic marketing and filtering through the buyers so you work with the ones ready to (and can financially) buy your home.
In my own business, I’ve helped many clients through similar challenges. While it’s part of the job, expert realtors can navigate these situations so that our clients aren’t caught in the middle.
“Brandie is an outstanding realtor and a great person. She navigated us through challenging sales. She gave us sound advice and sold our home in 3 days. This lady is a true touch of class and goes way beyond the norm to help her clients.”
6. A Creative & Strategic Marketing Plan
When you’ve determined a price for your home (usually with the help of your realtor), you’re ready to go on the market. A creative and strategic marketing plan is key to selling a home. From flyers to “For Sale” signs in your yard and listing a home on real estate sites and social media to hosting an open house, there are several marketing strategies to try, and all, at one point or another, have been proven to work! The key is developing a strategy that considers pricing, location, local market trends, and timeline.
7. Help Staging Your Home to Make It Look It’s Best
When you put your home for sale, you want to maximize your property value so you can get the best deal on the sale. This might mean making minor improvements to your home, including furniture arrangement, decluttering, painting a room a different color, or adding some landscaping to your yard. All of these things can increase the amount your home sells for.
A realtor will know professional stagers that specialize in staging homes to land a sale. They’ll know exactly what sells and what doesn’t and can prepare your home accordingly.
At the very least, you might just need to hire a good cleaning service to help you maintain a clean home while it’s open for tours. In more extreme cases, you might need to hire an inspector to tell you what needs repairs. Repairs are usually necessary if you want to reach the maximum selling point since most buyers will pay a premium for all the repairs to be done before their move-in date.
8. Help Finding the Right Photographer for High-Quality Photos
Once you’ve set the stage for your home, your realtor will know who to call for professional photos. Professional listing photos show off your home for potential buyers who come across your listing online. Great images help them visualize whether your home is the right fit for them.
9. True Professionalism
Like the professional stagers and photographers you use to sell your home, your realtor should exude professionalism at every turn. Whether it’s showing up to every appointment on time, dressing the part, constant communication, or just having your best interest at heart in the sale of your home –professionalism is a standard requirement for any great realtor.
“Brandie was professional, fun, and listened to every request we had, communicated effectively with all the players, was always available, and gave great advice. “
10. Attendance at Your Home’s Appraisal and Home Inspection to Represent You
The point of hiring a realtor is to help you sell your home, which can involve some of the more mundane tasks like attending your home’s appraisal or inspection. A realtor can represent you and your interests in selling your home –meaning you don’t have to be there physically. More importantly, attending appraisals and inspections will help them understand more details about your home (which better enables them to sell your home).
A great realtor will know what to expect, what results can mean, and interpret any industry jargon, so you understand exactly what’s going on throughout the appraisal and inspection process.
11. Help Organizing an Open House
A realtor will plan and organize an open house. From staging to hosting, a realtor will run the open house themselves. An open house can benefit your realtor more than it can sell your home, but it’s still a great marketing tool to get more eyes on your home.
Open houses have the potential to sell a home, although more often than not, it’s more about getting eyes on and in your home. However, I worked with a client who was able to use her open house to her advantage. “Our house sold the first open house thanks to great staging and marketing.”
If you want to know about how open houses work for sellers (and buyers), I have an extensive guide on what to expect, how to prepare, and more in this post.
12. Knowledge of the Local Real Estate Market
Unfortunately, the prices you see on Zillow, Redfin, and other national real estate sites aren’t always accurate home estimates and can be wildly inaccurate. When a realtor helps you set a price for your home, they are working on real data, detailed calculations, and a region or city’s current market trends (realtor.com) to create an accurate and competitive selling price.
With their existing knowledge of the local real estate market, a realtor will know exactly what your home will sell for based on the current trends. You think your house might be worth a certain price point, but a realtor will know what home buyers are actually willing to pay.
13. Knowledge of Local Laws, Regulations, & Procedures
Similar to how the local market fluctuates or changes from city to city, local laws, regulations, and procedures can also change. There are different processes to go through when you sell a condo or apartment versus a standalone home. Whether it’s homeowner associations or HOAs, your realtor must have experience in each of these realms so they can help you navigate the selling of your home.
14. Experienced & Skilled Negotiations
When you receive an offer (or multiple), a realtor will not only help you review each offer, but they’ll be on hand to negotiate the best deal possible for you –and trust me, you want a skilled negotiator who knows when an offer is under market value and make sure you don’t undersell your home.
Negotiations can be about more than just the final cost. If you want to adjust contingency dates, closing times, or even repairs, your realtor can also negotiate these.
15. Help Finalizing the Close, So You Get Your Cash ASAP
Once you’ve reached an agreement and concluded negotiations, it’s time for paperwork! There is a lot of documentation involved in the closing process, and an expert realtor will ensure that the process is smooth and swift so you can hand over the keys to the new owner and get your cash ASAP!
There are many moving pieces to sell a home, which is why realtors are a valuable asset to help you get the best outcome possible. Selling your home can happen fast or it can take time. If you’re wondering how long it actually takes to sell a home, I’ve got a post about that right here. But with an expert realtor helping you every step of the way, you’ll have more confidence that your home will sell (and at a good price!).
Hopefully, this post has helped you understand what to expect from an expert realtor when selling a home. There are huge benefits to working with a great realtor as they can relieve a lot of work and pressure off your hands throughout the process of selling or buying your home.
If you’re ready to sell your home, I’d love to see if we’d be a great fit! Get in contact with me to kick off the process!