As you consider selling your home, you might be thinking "Why do I need a Realtor, what value does a Sellers Agent provide to me?"

Here are five areas where a licensed Realtor can help you sell your home -

SETTING THE PRICE

Pricing your home for sale is a careful balance. Set the price too low and you end up leaving money on the table. Set the price too high and your home will be on the market a long time, which will make the problem worse as potential buyers think "that house has been on the market a long time, there must be a problem with it".

It is the Realtors job to know what homes like yours have sold for recently, and they can utilize the detailed history of the home sales in your neighborhood to tell whether your home - with it's unique features, location and condition - will bring more, or less, than similar listings. The Realtor always has the pulse of the local and regional Real Estate market, so they know whether the market is heating up or cooling down, and can stay ahead of the trend, pricing your home to get you the highest possible price in the least amount of time.

PROVIDE MARKETING MUSCLE

Attracting interested people to view and buy your home does not happen automatically. A Realtor will market your home to the widest audience of potential buyers through a well-coordinated multimedia campaign. Of course they will use "For Sale" Signs, Newspaper Ads, Internet websites and open houses, but you'll also be placed in the Multiple Listing Service where other local Real Estate agents can bring it to the attention of their buyers. Realtors can also advertise your home on Realtor.com and Yahoo Classifieds Real Estate where it can be viewed by anyone in the world that is relocating to your area.

BEING OBJECTIVE

Selling a home can be an emotional experience. After all, it's been a part of your life, perhaps the center of your life, for years. As a third party, a Realtor can keep you focused and provide independent feedback on things you should do, or changes and repairs that should be made, to help the home sell. They will also act as a buffer during negotiations. A licensed Realtor will adhere to a strict code of ethics, and work to represent your best interests.

PRE-QUALIFY BUYERS

A Realtor can help separate the serious buyers from people that are "just out touring homes" and this will save you a lot of time and frustration. The Realtor will determine if buyers are serious by getting answers to questions about their motivations and purchasing power and by ensuring that they have been pre-qualified for a mortgage in the amount needed to buy your home. When the Realtor brings you an offer on your home, you can be sure that the buyers' finances have been checked and they can close the deal in a timely fashion.

FOLLOWING THROUGH and CLOSING THE DEAL

Selling your house is a complicated process. There are offers and counter-offers. Then come the Contracts of Sale, inspection reports, disclosure forms, deeds, mortgage documents and more. There are many government-required inspections, disclosures and releases to be signed and exchanged between Buyer and Seller. Your Realtor keeps track of it all and sees to every detail. The value they provide is in avoiding delays and mistakes, and coordinating the timing of the sale of your house with the purchase of another, so that you make a smooth transition to your new home.

SUMMARY

Your home is probably your biggest asset. Selling it is one of the biggest transactions most people undertake. To try to do it without a seasoned professional beside you, is like going into a courtroom without a lawyer.

The value that a Realtor provides to someone selling a house is peace of mind. The marketing, the details, the paperwork, the coordination. A Realtor does it for a living every day, and has been through the process dozens, if not, hundreds of times. So relax and leave the details to them. You'll find that having a knowledgeable Realtor beside you throughout the sale of your home is......... priceless.

Vicki Walker is a Realtor serving the Northern California communities of Davis, Woodland, Winters and Yolo County. You can get more information at her websites, Davis Real Estate and Homes and Woodland California Real Estate

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