When you retire, living takes on an entirely new direction. You're no longer obligated to show up at the same place at the same time everyday and that may mean you have plans to move or travel, which also means you need to sell your home. Not only is selling your home a prerequisite of relocating upon retiring, but doing so can also boost your retirement savings, something most Americans desperately need. If you have any inclination of selling the house yourself, though, you could be setting yourself up for a major disappointment. Even if doing it yourself would save you some amount of money, it's not likely worth all the trouble you'll have to go through with the DIY approach. Here's how hiring an agent, instead, will help you:
1. A Real Estate Agent Can Summarize The Process, Allowing You To Plan
Entering retirement may be cause for celebration in your life, but it also involves uncharted territory and a number of unknown variables. Since selling your home is such a major event, you're going to need to know how and when you can expect it to happen, how much it's going to cost you and how much you can expect to make on the deal. There are also many small hurdles to overcome throughout the sales process, making the entire ordeal potentially overwhelming for someone trying to adjust to retired living.
A real estate agent can sit down with you, no strings attached, and explain the process from start to finish, including all the fees you can expect to pay, inspections you'll need to have done, documents you'll have to sign and so on. Rather than being unprepared and surprised at this pivotal time in your life, by taking the gamble of selling yourself, you can depend on an agent to inform and educate, then walk you through everything.
2. An Agent Will Price The Home For You
Pricing a home, particularly one you love and have lived in for many years, can be challenging, especially if your knowledge of real estate is limited. Hiring an agent means you don't have to worry about setting a fair price or how current market conditions can influence the sale price while it's listed.
3. You'll Have Help Figuring Out The Paperwork
Selling your home will involve a lot of paperwork and figuring it all out isn't easy. Above and beyond the contracts, inspections and appraisals, you're going to need to produce paperwork involving the complete history of the home:
The amount of paperwork you're going to have to put together is staggering; however, when you have an agent to guide you, getting this done is much less daunting.
4. You Won't Have To Worry About Showing Your Home
If you were to put a "For Sale by Owner" sign on your lawn, you're going to have to open your door to just about anyone who knocks on it, inquiring about the home. They may be "just looking" and not serious buyers at this time, they may not be qualified to make any purchase, given their income and credit history or they could just be curious to see what the inside of your house looks like - all major time wasters, perhaps even creepy at times, for you to have to deal with.
On the other hand, with an actual real estate agent screening would-be buyers, you'll have scheduled visits where qualified buyers stop by, giving you a major advantage over selling on your own.
5. Negotiating Is A Piece Of Cake - When A Real Estate Agent Does It
Following current real estate market trends involves a lot of time and work, but that's what you'd have to do, if you were trying to sell the home yourself. You'd need to raise and lower the price of the home, according to market fluctuations and you'd have to know what aspects of negotiations you can give in to, without harming your bottom line. Buyers can be very adamant regarding the price they want to pay and the accompanying perks they'd like to receive and having all that thrown at you as you're trying to plan a move and start your retirement is simply too much for most people, whereas these types of challenges are strategically handled on a daily basis by professional agents and brokers.
Why put yourself through all of this? Why battle buyers and be forced to keep up to date on the current market conditions, when someone else can handle it for you?
6. You Can Literally Just Pack Up And Go
If you've been looking forward to moving to a warmer climate or closer to the grandchildren as soon as you retire, there's no need to wait around while your home is on the market. Simply pack up, leaving a few items behind in the home, such as a sofa, bed and table, so the real estate agent can properly stage and show the property, and be on your way. An experienced agent can take it from there, even forwarding the final paperwork for you to sign and notarize, meaning you don't even have to return to be present at the closing. If you take this route, be sure and check if you're obligated to pay any state taxes on the sale of the home, to the state in which it was sold and possibly, to the one you move to.
Share7 November 2017
After I decided to buy a new home, I realized that I probably needed to prioritize the things on my wish list. Since I am not wealthy, I realized that I probably couldn't get everything that I wanted out of a single home--at least, not this time around. Fortunately, I worked with an incredible real estate agent who helped me to figure out which type of property would pay off in the end. Finding a home took a lot of time, but I am really pleased that I found the right one. This blog is all about learning to prioritize your home hunting wish list so that you can have the home and financial situation of your dreams.
