Why Use A REALTOR®?

When you're ready to think about selling your property, you need to ask yourself the following questions: Do you have the time, energy, sources of information, and contacts to do the job yourself? If you were one of the 'do-it-yourself' people, would the results be as good or better than they would be if you had professional assistance? Would it have gone smoother? Would it have given you more personal time? Would you have sold for more, if a real estate agent was involved? Here are a few ways that having REALTOR® on your side can help:

Pricing Your Property

Your real estate agent can give you up-to-date information on what is happening in the marketplace and the price, financing, terms, and condition of competing properties. These are key factors in getting your property sold at the best price, quickly and with minimum hassle. By putting the local market expertise of a REALTOR® to work for you, you’ll understand why homes sold by owners typically sell for less than the selling price of other homes.

Marketing Your Property

The next step is a marketing plan. Often, your agent can recommend repairs or cosmetic work that will significantly enhance the salability of the property. Marketing includes the exposure of your property to other real estate agents and the public. In many markets across the country, over 50% of real estate sales are cooperative sales; that is, a real estate agent other than yours brings in the buyer. Your agent acts as the marketing coordinator, disbursing information about your property to other real estate agents through a Multiple Listing Service or other cooperative marketing networks, open houses for agents, etc.

Negotiating

The negotiation process deals with much the same issues for both buyers and sellers. Your agent can help you objectively evaluate every offer without compromising your marketing position. This initial agreement is only the beginning of a process of appraisals, inspections, and financing -- a lot of possible pitfalls. Your agent can help you navigate the steps, deadlines and negotiations of the sale to help you arrive at the best possible outcome.

Monitoring, Renegotiating And Closing

Between the initial sales agreement and closing (or settlement), questions may arise. For example, unexpected repairs are required to obtain financing, or a cloud in the title is discovered. The required paperwork alone is overwhelming for most sellers. Your agent is the best person to objectively help you resolve these issues and move the transaction to the finish line.

High Visibility - Since the MLS works as a clearinghouse through which thousands of real estate firms exchange information on homes they have listed for sale, it assures your home of the widest possible exposure to prospective buyers, including being posted on RILiving.com, Rhode Island's most comprehensive real estate web site.As soon as your listing is taken, it’s entered into State-Wide MLS, the source for listing information that is updated hourly on numerous property search sites.