Thinking of selling your home? It’s easier than you think

If you’ve seen the news recently or been on social media recently, then you’re probably aware of how the housing market has been extremely hot since the start of the pandemic in 2020. While the shift originally began with companies closing their offices and allowing employees to work remotely, the demand for homes is still at all time highs despite many employers opening their offices again.

As HomeLight discusses in their Top Agent Insights for Spring 2021 report, 84% of real estate agents are optimistic about home prices because of a handful of trends such as low home inventory levels, historically low mortgage rates (which 97% of agents say contributes to high demand), and the fact that parents want their children to physically attend school in high-quality districts.

Considering how the housing market currently favors sellers, now’s a great time to list your space. While selling a home is a complex process, you can make it more manageable by following the tips below.

Find a realtor that you can trust

Working with a realtor is an essential part of selling your home because they’re able to guide you through the entire selling journey. Although there’s plenty of real estate agents that are ready to assist sellers, choosing the right professional can be daunting. That’s why you should consider the following tips to help you find a realtor you can trust.

First, evaluate your priorities when looking for a professional to assist you. Do you need an agent who can hold your hand throughout the entire selling journey, or are you looking to take a hands off approach and let the professional handle all the work.

Then look for realtors who know the ins and outs of your neighborhood. You can determine this by seeing whether the real estate professional is based in your area or if the bulk of their sales are in your area.

After getting your your bearings when looking for agents, you need to look into essential realtor metrics such as:

• The number of homes sold in the past six months and year
• The average number of days it takes to sell a home, and how it compares to the regional average
• How much more or less than the list price an agent usually sells for

How to interview your prospective realtor

Interviewing real estate agents to help sell your home is relatively easy and can be done in a 15 minute phone call consisting of 5 minutes to get the basics out of the way, 5 minutes to get a feel for how the agent works, and 5 minutes to go over logistics and next steps.

During the first part of the call you want to ask how long the agent has been in the industry, questions to see their knowledge of the area, what sets them apart from other agents, and the number of clients they represent at once, and how often they’ll reach out with updates on the process.

The next part of the call consists of asking about the agent’s team and who you’ll work with throughout the home selling process, how the agent plans to market your home, how they handle home preparation and staging, and what they think the biggest challenge to a successful sale will be.

Finally you can wrap up the call by inquiring about guarantees (honest agents won’t promise what they can’t deliver), their fee structure, if they can provide client references, and what next steps are if you choose to move forward.

If these steps sound easier than you expected, that’s because selling your home doesn’t have to be difficult when you’re working with a trusted professional.