Why Use a Realtor Versus Selling My House FSBO (For Sale By Owner)

Why Use a Realtor Versus Selling My House FSBO (For Sale By Owner)

Selling your house is one of the largest financial transactions of your life. There are over 180 steps involved in a single transaction, not to mention legal implications! You will have to open your house up for strangers to preview and negotiate the terms of the deal, sometimes against professional negotiators. If this task seems daunting to you, perhaps it would be best to enlist the use of a professional!

Why Use a Realtor Versus Selling My House FSBO (For Sale By Owner)

First, it always needs to be stated that EVERY REALTOR IS DIFFERENT. Make sure you do your homework and recognize that experience does not equal expertise! Contact me today and I will SHOW AND TELL you how I do more for my clients than any agent in the greater Lewis County area!

Here are some of the benefits for using a REALTOR rather than going the For Sale By Owner route.

EDUCATION

An agent's job is to manage the transaction of selling your home. They represent buyers and sellers (some specialize in one or the other in larger markets) and know exactly what the market is doing at any given time. The education an agent can provide is priceless when it comes to knowing the value of your home versus what the market will bear. The biggest reason homes don't sell is being overpriced.

 LEGAL PAPERWORK

There is a lot of paperwork involved in the sale of a house. All of this paperwork is legal by nature. If you get something wrong, you can and will be held liable. An agent provides protection by handling the paperwork for you, so the liability moves from you to your agent - we are required to have insurance for this very reason. Also, we do this paperwork every day, so it is very rare that we are required to use this insurance! You make the decisions and we do all the legwork for you.

NEGOTIATION

One of the areas where an agentreally protect homeowners is negotiating the deal. You want the best price and terms and it is the job of your agent to get those for you. When selecting an agent, be sure to ask them about their negotiation skills or if they have any designations. I, personally, love the art of the deal and it was one of the reasons that attracted me to real estate. It would make sense, then, that I have obtained the Certified Negotiation Expert designation. Not every agent is created equal, and this is one area where differences are crystal clear.

EXPOSURE

Another benefit when using an agent is that your house gets marketed to all other realtors and their clients via the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). When you try to sell your house FSBO, unless you are a professional marketer, it is extremely difficult to reach a large audience of interested AND qualified buyers. There are lots of "looky-loos" out there, and it is the agent's job to pre-qualify buyers before showing them homes.

So, why use a Realtor versus selling your house FSBO?

 Every transaction is different. It is useful to have a professional there by your side guiding you through all the hurdles. There are 180 steps in a transaction and every single one of them can go wrong. Worse, one tiny mistake could cost you thousands and waste your time in legal battles. An agent will protect you, work with your best interests in mind, and negotiate you the best possible deal.

The hard part is finding the right agent for the job!

How to choose a real estate agent

How to Choose a Listing Agent

How to Choose a Great Listing Agent

Content originally posted at www.ErenMillam.biz

Sell My Home Fast in greater Lewis County

Sell My Home Fast in greater Lewis County

Sell My Home Fast in greater Lewis County

If I wanted to sell my home fast in greater Lewis County, I would use a Realtor(R). Unless you already have a buyer and are willing to sort through the paperwork with your attorney, why not enlist an expert who is working with buyers and has access to and the know-how of marketing properties?

Now, just like many other things in life, REALTORS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL. With that being said, the correct Realtor to sell your home fast in greater Lewis County is the one that can get your house the most exposure. Here are a few things to look for.

1. Professional Photos

 Approximately 90% of buyers start their home search online. Photos are largely what drive traffic to any given property. Some agents will post a few photos on the Multiple Listing Service that they take themselves. My local MLS, Northwest Multiple Listing Service, is able to hold 25 pictures per property. If you need to sell your home fast in greater Lewis County, contact me! I will have a professional photographer take over 25 photos and post extra photos on sites like Zillow, Trulia, and Craigslist. I do this for all my clients.

2. MLS Description

The first piece of marketing that buyers see is next to your MLS pictures. Some agents use this space to tell the buyer how many bedrooms and bathrooms it has. This is redundant information as the bed/bath information is already listed. If you need to sell your home fast in greater Lewis County, contact me! I will ensure your property is painted in the best possible and honest light, creating a buzz for broker's opens and open houses.

3. Open Houses

Nowadays, there doesn't seem to be too much traffic at open houses. This is for two reasons. The open house event isn't widely advertised and it's not treated as an event, meaning no colorful signs or balloons. If you need to sell your home fast in greater Lewis County, contact me! I grew up with technology. I know all about integration, optimization, and syndication, which I implement to help me reach thousands of interested buyers rather than a few hundred.

These are just a few of the ways I am able to outshine my counterparts. If you need to sell your home fast in greater Lewis County, contact me!

Oh, one more thing. If you searched, "Sell My Home Fast", and that's what led you to this blog, it's no accident. Wouldn't you want a Realtor who knows how to get on the top of search pages be the one to sell your home fast?

Here are some helpful links if you are thinking of selling your home fast in greater Lewis County:

Storage Companies

Home Staging Companies

Moving Companies

Content originally posted at www.ErenMillam.biz.

Should I Rent or Buy in greater Lewis County?

by Eren Millam

Real Estate Broker with Realty World Cosser & Associates, Inc.

 

 * Information used to compute graph statistics based on Chehalis, WA rentals or properties for sale unless not enough subject items available then broadened out to all of Lewis County. Graph was created to provide a general idea of the differences in monthly rent vs mortgages. Each rental & house for sale is unique and your situation may differ from the norm.

Should I Rent or Buy in greater Lewis County?

Want to buy a home in greater Lewis County?. Want to sell your home in greater Lewis County? Ask me for a free Comparative Market Analysis and find out what I do for sellers in greater Lewis County.

Should I Rent or Buy in greater Lewis County?

If you speak with a Realtor, chances are they will say, "It's always a good time to buy!" Being a Realtor myself, I wholeheartedly endorse that statement! We don't just say that because we want the commission, we say it because there are numerous reasons why buying is always better.

Reason #1

If you are a renter, you pay a great deal of money out each month to live in a shelter as compared to paying a mortgage, where your money is going towards living in a shelter that you will own after a determined length of time. Sure you are paying a lot towards interest, but you have equity in the end which allows you to get back a large portion of your money.  It is like a forced savings plan! With renting, you are just out of all that money, you will never get it back.

Reason #2

The government supports home ownership! There are all kinds of tax breaks that make the mortgage easier to swallow. When I purchased my first home in 2010, I was able to use the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit which ended up being a nice fat check of over $9,000 just for doing what we already planned on doing. Although this program is no longer in existence, check with your local Realtor for current government programs that you might be eligible for.

Reason #3

Home ownership is part of the American Dream. I am thankful that my career allows me to be involved in the home buying process! Part of being American is being able to do what we want, when we want. In an apartment, you are held to rules that somebody else sets. If you want to paint your walls a different color or change the carpet or get rid of that popcorn ceiling, you'd better check with your landlord first!

Every Situation is Unique

Of course, there are good reasons not to buy as well. These are more situational factors and are based almost entirely on if you can afford to buy. However, as we muddle through the economic malaise, not being able to afford a mortgage is more the norm than the exception. As such, lenders are starting to adapt to the situation with the types of loans they provide.

New Loan Programs

1.            FHA Back to Work Program - Recent Foreclosure or Bankruptcy

                Contact Becky Carver, Prime Lending for more information or to apply

2.            97% LTV Loan - Low Down Payment

                Contact Alan Pust, Twin Star Credit Union for more information or to apply

So, Should I Rent or Buy in greater Lewis County? Yes! It's always a good time to buy!

Content originally posted at www.ErenMillam.biz

Selling Mistakes

According to this study, many people are unaware of what it takes to sell their home. Some of these, such as odors, make sense to everyone why that is a turn off. For example, if you smoke, you have dwindled your market down to only people who like the smell of smoke!

 Data provided by ActiveRain.com. 

ActiveRain is an online community of real estate professionals who exchange best practices, write real estate blogs, and get free education from the industry and their peers.

Ah, the overpriced home. This is also the one I run in to most of the time. As real estate has increasingly moved online, more and more people turn to Zillow and Trulia. These are great resources, don't get me wrong, but they are given more credibility than they deserve. Even after claiming my own house and putting in the correct information, Zillow shows I have less square footage, bedrooms, and bathrooms than I actually do. How can you trust the end result if the numbers entered into the formula are wrong in the first place? This is where a local, trained expert comes in to play! Are we always right? No, but it is our job to represent your interests and you came to us to sell your home. Nobody knows your market better than your local realtor!

The tricky thing about Realtors is, you have to make sure you find the right one! Realtors are not created equal. Make sure you find one who you feel comfortable with and who will differentiate your home with the correct mixture of marketing.

Check out my "Sellers" page and see if you think we might be a good fit!

Content originally posted on www.ErenMillam.biz

More than Just a Home!

When speaking with clients, I usually ask them what they are looking for in a home. They go on to tell me about the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and any number of things they might be looking for. When you are shopping for a car, you would do the same thing: mpg, safety, number of seats/doors, etc. There are two main differences between a house and a car. The first difference is that with a car, when you drive off the lot - you've just lost a ton of value as compared to a house where you will gain value over time. Also, with a house, the value is not just in the object itself. Take the following for example:

Data provided by ActiveRain.com. 

ActiveRain is an online community of real estate professionals who exchange best practices, write real estate blogs, and get free education from the industry and their peers.

These are real factors that raise the value and prices on property. You are not just buying the house, you are creating a home!

I'd love to assist you achieve the dream of home ownership! Contact me today and let's get started!

 Content originally posted on www.ErenMillam.biz

For my first real estate blog, I want to introduce myself, my website, and what my future blogs will be about.

Instead of repeating what is on my "About" page, I'd like to do something a little different. I'd like to explain the story behind those words. I have close to 10 years of customer service. My first ever job was managing a book store during summers of high school. I was a one-man show and made a lot of mistakes! This was my introduction to the online marketplace as I served several large companies such as Amazon, ABE Books, Barnes & Noble, etc. while also manning the local brick and mortar customers. During the summers of college, I served in the labor force for various city governments. While attending college, I worked in the ticket office for the work-study program. When I left college, I began working for state government at L&I where I worked my way up to supervisor in 2 short years. My last position before making the switch to real estate was at DSHS serving lower income individuals. My whole life has been about work and more importantly, helping people!

All of my previous work experience has been about the customer and how to serve them. My website is no different. Many sites require you to register before you can look at available properties, but not mine. Feel free to use it to search for properties, my listed properties, and my colleagues properties, and only when you are ready, I allow you a variety of ways to contact me. I don't want to sell you a house, I want to assist you in finding and purchasing the home of your dreams!

This initial blog is about me, but the rest of my blogs will be all about you. I will be providing helpful and interesting information relating to real estate in the Greater Lewis County area. If you have a question you'd like me to address in a blog, let me know. If you have a question about a specific property, I am available to assist.

Content originally posted at www.ErenMillam.biz/Blog