When top Realtor, Linda Sitek, decided to list one of her own properties for sale, the first thing she did was contact another listing agent – it happened to be her business partner Steven Ritz – but the point is she was removing herself from handling the transaction.

Didn’t she have the knowledge and systems in place to successfully list and market the property herself? Absolutely.

More importantly though, she knew that having a listing agent, not herself, handle the transaction was a strategic decision; one that would give her a tactical advantage and peace of mind.

Advantage Number 1 - Clarity

There are many benefits to working with an agent. Having a listing agent allows you to remove yourself emotionally from the transaction. No matter how many homes you’ve sold or bought there is an emotional component. Hiring a Realtor to act as a buffer gives you a chance to process information and respond logically rather than from a knee jerk reaction and emotion. This can be the difference between keeping the sale of your house together and watching it go up in flames.

Advantage Number 2 - Perception

Plus, many buyers find a Realtor more trustworthy than buying a home direct from a seller. When we get into disclosures and negotiations, buyers are more likely to trust an agent in presenting complete and fair information than a seller. Agents have licenses, brokers and boards that they must report to and those provide a checks and balance and sense of security to buyers.

Advantage Number 3 - Protection

And speaking of licenses and boards – working with an agent who is insured and represented means that if something goes wrong, there are protections in place to make sure that both you and your agent are covered. This doesn’t come up very often but when it does, you want to make sure that you’ve done everything you could to prevent any lawsuits that may come your way.

Advantage Number 4 - Market Knowledge

We’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Before we even get to listing the property, we need to do all the preparatory work. One of the most important pieces of preparing a listing for the market is setting the price. Having someone who can look at the actual market value of a property and separate the emotional value out is invaluable. An unbiased yet professional opinion of market value is needed.

A constant refrain we hear is “Well, I put $50,000 into this property so I should be getting at least $50,000 back.” We wish it worked like this. This sentiment is occasionally true depending on the upgrades but very often it is not. Having an advisor to help you appreciate the true value of your property and its upgrades sets you up for a successful and satisfying transaction.

Side note: if you are planning on putting money into a property before you sell it to increase the value, make sure you discuss the most effective places to spend your money to maximize your return on investment.

With the property being discussed here, Linda’s agent advised her against a kitchen remodel that would have increased the price but would have also taken months to complete. He helped her to identify her potential buyer (maybe a family with school-aged children looking to take advantage of the sought-after school zoning) and to strategize how to appeal to those buyers AND get the house on the market in their ideal time zone (summer) so that they could be moved in before school started.

Instead, in keeping with Linda’s priority of quickly selling for max dollars, money was spent on painting inside and out, landscaping, and staging the main living area and primary suite. She invested less than $5K and netted over $20K more than the property was listed for. That’s how you use strategy and a Realtor to maximize your dollars.

Once you’ve got the price set and the property on the market, the next place we really see an agent’s unique value is in the marketing.

Advantage Number 5 - Marketing

When you list a home “For Sale By Owner” you risk buyers not even seeing your home listing since it’s not on the MLS and it can put off buyers who don’t want to call the number on the “for sale” sign in your yard. Also, when buyers know that you have an interest in the property, they are more skeptical of everything you say and of how you’re selling. Many “FSBO” sellers receive low-ball offers and waste their precious first-impression on the market because they overprice the home at the start.

Plus, when it comes to marketing, choosing to work with a Realtor who is actively listing and selling properties in the market at the moment, is the best way to ensure that you’re getting a top-notch strategy. We do this every single day. We invest our time and money to attend conferences, classes, and workshops all year to learn about emerging trends and techniques from the best in the business. Let the professionals help!

Let’s say you’ve got the property priced, prepped, listed, and marketed. Now we get to the big one: negotiations of offers and even more.

Advantage Number 6 - Negotiations

There is a reason that we have always advised our buyers and sellers not to meet. It’s the same reason we talked about at the beginning of this article. Personal real estate transactions are emotional. Because they are important, and therefore emotional, they can go south very quickly.

In this particular transaction, the winning offer was $21K above an already top-of-market list price. Linda’s agent Steven was able to attend the appraisal to provide valuable collateral justifying the property value in this hyper-local, particularly explosive market.

He was also able to head-off a potentially problematic inspection report. When the inspection for this property was completed, the inspector made a huge inaccurate assumption with both plumbing and electrical issues that scared the buyers and upset the seller. Fortunately, Linda had done a pre-inspection and her agent was able to use this knowledge to quickly and calmly secure the proper contractor/licensed expert and remedy the situation before the buyer asked for a reduction in price of home or credits. He took a moment that could have been deal-breaking to increase the buyer’s faith in the seller and the property and to secure top-dollar for Linda.

Finally, how did all of this save Linda $20K?

Because she chose to not handle the listing herself and instead hire another trusted agent, Steven, all the above pieces came together. The property was priced correctly, the marketing strategy was designed to find the ideal buyer, the staging and suggested investments made a huge impact, and Steven was able to step in and negotiate along the way to keep everything moving smoothly.

This is the difference between “doing it” and “doing it right” and in this case, it certainly paid off.

Side note: It’s important to Linda that you know that even as an agent (or maybe, especially as an agent), she chose to pay a 3% commission to both the listing and buying agents. These agents did their jobs impeccably and professionally and deserved every dollar that they made from this transaction. Real estate is not easy, we just make it look that way. If you are working with a discount broker, you aren’t going to get the same level of care, detail, and dedication.

Enjoyed these insights and looking forward to more?

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Steven Ritz, Buyer Specialist - Call 321-277-8271 or email here

Linda Sitek, Listing Specialist - Call 407-963-6544 or email here

Brought to you by Abode at Keller Williams Winter Park Realty

Why One of Central Florida’s TOP Listing Agents Used Another Realtor to Sell Her Own Home (& How It Made Her an Extra $20K)