So you want to sell off your property in New Jersey, but don’t know how to go about it. For starters, there are three ways of putting your property up for sale. You could hire a real estate agent, you could get in touch with Realtors in New Jersey, or you could do it completely on your own.
In recent years, there have been plenty of for-sale-by-owner or FSBO cases. While FSBO is completely alright and could work for you, most experienced realtors and people with knowhow of the real estate market strongly advise against it, and there are good reasons why.
Incorrect Pricing
FSBO sellers are known to have the misconception that they would make more profits without the help of a Realtor. While Realtors do charge a commission fee, they also provide their in-depth real estate market knowledge in return. Without this knowledge, most independent sellers tend to overprice their properties. While overpricing may lead to profits in some scenarios, problems are encountered when the market is a fiercely competitive one.
Marketing Conundrums
Once you decide to sell your property in New Jersey, you need effective marketing. It’s alright if you have some experience in marketing, but without any kind of proper background in marketing and real estate market knowhow, you would be lost. Proper marketing ensures that qualified potential buyers become interested in your property and you have a great chance of selling it.
Encountering Non-Qualified Buyers
One of the most common marketing methods of FSBO sellers is to advertise their properties through classified advertisements. While this is a relatively cheap method, the problem is that there are no guarantees that the interested parties are financially qualified to buy your property. As a result, you may end up wasting countless hours talking to people who are in position to afford your property.
Disclosure of Information
Your property cannot sell itself. While you compose the advertisement, you need to highlight the strengths of your house. But at the same time, you should also remember to point out problem areas. There is no use marketing only the positives of your property, as sooner or later, your prospective buyers would visit and identify the problems themselves. There are disclosure laws as well, not adhering to which may result in lawsuits and financial damage.
The importance of Realtors cannot be undermined these days, with the real estate market becoming more unpredictable with every passing day. Here are a few benefits offered by Realtors:
Market Research and Analysis: Apart from being well informed and aware of the way the real estate market functions, a Realtor puts a lot of effort into analyzing market health and behavior. This leads to proper pricing, and all overpricing issues associated with FSBO sellers are eliminated.
Qualified Buyers: Realtors analyze buyers by assessing their financial capabilities and pre-qualify them. As a result, a lot of time is saved which would have otherwise been wasted on non-qualified buyers.
Marketing Skills: Realtors are known for their invaluable experience in the real estate market. They know exactly how your property should be marketed to your target audience for the best chances of fetching a high price. Through clever advertising and marketing, expect realtors to fetch you the choicest prospective buyers.
Negotiations: Every buyer would try to push the price downwards and inexperienced FSBO sellers are more likely to give in to buyer demands than Realtors. When you hire a Realtor, he or she works for your best interests. His negotiations are meant to give you the upper hand in any real estate transaction.
Adherence to Laws: Realtors are considered a step above agents as they work in adherence to ethics. Realtors follow all real estate codes of conduct and ensure that you don’t get into any fuss and bother.
The benefits of hiring realtors are quite apparent, and it’s no surprise that many FSBO sellers have turned to Realtors in recent years as well.