Buying or selling a home can bring you two very different experiences, it can be a journey full of excitement and anticipation or full of stress and anxiety. Those experiences depend all on you and whether you hired an agent to assist you in the process. It also depends on who you hired, and if they truly care about you and your home or if they are just in it for a paycheck. So how can one person change your buying/selling experience? Lets take a look at just a few of the things a great agent will be doing for you. Since an agent acts on behalf of either the seller or the buyer we will split this up between the two.
So you did it, you made the decision to sell your home! Great…But now where do you go from here? What is the next step. If you are doing this on your own then the questions will start to flood in and become an avalanche of anxiety. However, an agent is experienced in this and knows exactly where to go next. The first thing they will assist you with is figuring out how much to list your home for. An agent understands the market as well as the areas surrounding your home to get the best price possible. Typically a house sold by the owner profits 23% less than with a realtor. In addition to that it usually sits on the market for roughly 20 days longer, the reason for this is all in the marketing and access a realtor has that an owner doesn’t. Creating buzz around your home is where an agent thrives, they will create the necessary publications to entice buyers as well as hosting open houses for you. Aside from just hosting open houses they will give you tips on how to prepare for it. Whether that means painting a more neutral color in a bedroom or clearing out clutter, they will do their best to have a successful showing. When putting your home for sale you want it in front of as many buyers as possible to increase your chances of getting top dollar. Thats where your real estate professional comes in, they have access to the Multiple Listing Service, MLS for short. This is a general hub where realtors and brokers go to see all of the homes on the market. So listing your home in the MLS means every agent in your city is seeing it and can refer it to their clients looking to buy a home. Aside from all of the exposure and convenience an agent will bring you, one of the biggest attributes is that they handle all the negotiations and paperwork. This allows for faster closing and getting the best offer for your home!
Now let’s talk buying. In most cases buying a home will be one of the biggest purchases you make in your life so having an agent on hand to make sure its a smooth transaction is priceless. Your first step in the buying process is getting pre-approved, you need to know how much you can spend before you start the search for a new home. A good agent will have a list of trusted lenders that they can direct you too. Once you’ve gotten your pre approval and know how much house you can afford its time to start the search! This is where your buyers agent comes in! They will advise you to the best neighborhoods, schools and location matching you to your dream home. In the process of looking they will also be the one to setup a showing and give you key details about each home you look at. The biggest perk of having an agent on your side is when it comes to negotiating an offer. A great agent knows the value of what you are looking to buy and should effectively negotiate to get you the best possible price. When purchasing a home communication is key, your realtor will make sure that not only you are kept informed but everyone else in the process such as the selling agent is too. This will keep everyone on the same page allowing for a smooth closing process and keep your new purchase an exciting one!
Now that you know how valuable a real estate agent is on either end of buying or selling how do you pick the right one? Bakersfield has about 1800 active agents so why should you choose Selling Bakersfield? First and foremost is that we have a passion for helping others. We follow Jesus Christ and believe in his teachings as found in the word of God, the Bible. That is why our way of doing business is based on “The Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12).” We believe that if we help others in the same way we would like others to help us, we can’t go wrong. Following that way of thinking means that you will always have the best service possible at Selling Bakersfield. We have a team of people devoting our time to you and making sure you feel 100% confident in working with us. Obviously a big factor in choosing your agent will also depend on money and how much it’s going to cost you. Our agents fee is only 4% compared to most which is 6%, but that doesn’t mean that you are paying for less. Selling Bakersfield has a combined 25 years of real estate experience to help service you with your real estate needs. We figure that through Selling Bakersfield, we can help people in our community by providing the utmost honest and professional real estate services.