A real estate agent for a seller, often referred to as a seller's agent, performs many functions, including helping you organize your house for sale, set the right price, determine a selling strategy, and negotiate with buyers. This article covers the roles and responsibilities of a seller's agent and what qualities to look for, so you will know how to select the right real estate agent to sell your home.
What is the Sellers' Agent?
A seller's agent represents the seller during the course of selling their property. Seller's agent is the same as a listing agent, and both terms can be used interchangeably.
Listing Consultation
When you are selling your house, the first meeting that you have with a real estate agent is usually known as a listing consultation. During the consultative session, your agent will look at your property and learn more about your aims for selling. They will discuss your home's selling features with you, and suggest improvements that could lift your price.
They will also do a comparative market analysis (CMA), which looks at comparable homes that have sold nearby, to help figure out what your home is worth in the current market and recommend a price to you. A good seller's agent should also bring a marketing strategy to help you realize that price.
Roles of a Listing Agent in Selling a Home
1. Prepare Your Home to Sell
A listing agent with lots of experience will know how to maximize your property value so you can receive top cash for your home. They will be able to figure out which updates you should make to your home to increase its selling price. They will also be able to suggest service providers such as an inspector, handyman, painter, landscaper, stager, etc., who will provide great value and high quality at a reasonable price.
2. Stage Your Home to Sell
Preparing your home is an art. Staging is different from decorating and requires the attention of a professional, especially if you want to make the most out of your sale price. They understand that proper preparation prevents poor performance. Your agent will help you stage your home so that it makes the best first impression among potential buyers. A well-staged home can wow buyers from the time they look at the listing photos, to the moment they walk in the door.
3. Hire An Expert Listing Photographer
An expert real estate agent will assist you in organizing professional photographers, or may even have one as part of the service. Once the home is prepared and staged, it will be ready for a photo shoot. The photographer will also perform a 3D scan of your house so that buyers can view it from every angle online. Many buyers who are not resident in the state or the country would want to have a 3D Walk-through of your house before they spend their time and money to tour it in-person.
These are essential roles real estate agents perform for the seller during the sale of a property. So when you are hiring an agent, don't be afraid to tap into their expertise and learn as much as you can from them.
If you plan to pursue your dream house, it generally helps to evaluate housing market data. In fact, there are many reasons why homebuyers should assess real estate market data, and these include:
1. You can learn about mortgage interest rates.
Mortgage interest rates rise and fall frequently. As a homebuyer, you'll want to do everything you can to identify the lowest-available mortgage interest rates. And if you study the housing market, you may be better equipped than ever before to do just that.
In addition, it often helps to meet with banks and credit unions. These financial institutions can help you track mortgage interest rates and provide you with mortgage insights that you may struggle to obtain elsewhere. Plus, banks and credit unions can help you get pre-approved for a mortgage and ensure that you have finances in hand when you pursue your dream residence.
2. You can reduce the risk of spending too much to acquire your ideal house.
Let's face it – you want to buy your dream house, but you don't want to break the bank to do so. Fortunately, if you understand housing market data, you may be able to avoid the temptation to overspend on a house.
Examine the prices of available houses and recently sold homes in areas where you want to live. By doing so, you can establish a price range for your dream residence and find out whether you're preparing to enter a buyer's or seller's market.
3. You can quickly and effortlessly navigate the homebuying journey.
The homebuying journey may prove to be long and complicated, especially for those who fail to prepare for it. Luckily, housing market data can give you a better idea about what to expect as soon as you kick off your search for your ideal house. Then, you can use this information to identify and address potential homebuying hurdles faster than ever before.
For those who are unsure about how to collect and analyze housing market data, there is no need to stress. If you collaborate with a real estate agent, you can get the help the you need to discover your dream house.
A real estate agent can provide you with the right housing market data, at the right time, every time. He or she also will allocate the necessary time and resources to explain the importance of assorted housing market data and paint a picture of the current state of the real estate sector. That way, you can take a data-driven approach to buying a house.
Perhaps best of all, a real estate agent is available to take the guesswork out of the homebuying journey. This housing market professional will keep you up to date about new houses as they become available and ensure that you can find a terrific house that matches your budget.
Ready to make your homeownership dream come true? Use real estate market data, and you can become an expert homebuyer in no time at all.
Called “common-interest housing” condos, co-ops, flats, townhomes, and apartments have different meanings to different buyers and even have different colloquial meanings than the official real estate industry meanings. Below you'll find a breakdown of the differences between these housing types along with the advantages and disadvantages of each.
What is “Common Interest Housing”?
Before going too deep, it is essential to understand just what "common-interest housing" actually is. This type of real estate involves a combination of individually owned areas and shared areas in a single property. Shared areas often include pools, parking, and clubhouses, but it can also mean shared landscaping, exteriors, fences and roofs depending on the type of property. A property manager, homeowners association (HOA) or a combination of the two maintains common areas.
Condos and Co-Ops
Condominiums, more commonly called condos, are single home units in a shared property. A homeowner separately owns each unit. The shared property types range from high rise buildings, also called apartments or flats, to conjoined homes townhouse-style. A single family home in a planned community or a mobile home in a community or park can also be condos. Instead of a specific type of home style, "condominium" is a legal term in the United States that refers to the ownership status, so homes of any form, connected or not, can qualify if they are part of a shared property community.
A co-op, short for cooperative housing development, is another thing entirely. While similarly structured with private and shared areas, co-op owners purchase and own shares in the real estate development instead of their specific portion of the property. All the shareholders have a voice in the real estate corporation, and their investment includes the right to live in a unit. Usually, the monthly expenses of the real estate corporation split between shareholders, so this can be an extra expense you need to plan for. Similarly to condominium, "co-op" is a legal term that refers to the ownership style of the building or neighborhood instead of the building's structure. Depending on your area, you can find co-ops in apartment-style buildings, single family home neighborhoods and townhome style shared wall housing.
Flats, Townhomes, and Apartments
You’ve noticed the words flat, apartment and townhome in the descriptions of condos and co-ops above. This is because apartments, flats, and townhomes don't have such specific legal meanings. The term "apartment" most often refers to rental units, usually in a single building or set of structures. These are generally not owned, but instead leased or rented from the owner of the entire building or complex. However, since apartments are just a building style with several units that have shared walkways and entryways, apartments can be rentals, condos or co-ops depending on the situation.
Townhomes refer to a specific building style where the house connects to another house on at least one side. Just like apartments, townhomes could be rentals, co-ops, condos or single-family homes. The true townhome design requires both homes to have separate side-walls even though they touch. However, a lot of condo, co-op and apartment designs look like townhomes without actually meeting the construction requirements. Do this by styling the front or backs of each unit differently, even if constructed as part of a single building.
Are you thinking of buying a condominium or co-op? Talk to your real estate agent about what's available in your area!
