Why Work With A Real Estate Agent

Some homeowners opt to sell their homes on their own because they feel that that a real estate agent does nothing they can't do, or they feel the services simply aren't worth the associated commission. It's strange, because there aren't many other industries where this occurs. People embrace economic specialization everyday: when they get their car fixed by a mechanic and when they get their teeth pulled by a dentist. These people are simply more knowledgeable and more experienced than most at performing these tasks, therefore, they do a better job. Real estate is no different.

In 2010, the average sale price for homes sold by owners (FSBOs) in the U.S. was $140,000. In contrast, the average agent-assisted home sale was for $199,300.* The bottom line is that your home is likely your most valuable asset, and with the help of a professional, you can expect much higher returns on the sale. This is for many reasons, but simply put, an agent is better at pricing, marketing, negotiating, and selling homes than most homeowners.

The graph above contains issues reported by homeowners selling without the assistance of an agent in 2010 and their relative frequency.* Working with a real estate agent resolves all of these issues and more. Below are some of the many reasons you should sell your home with the assistance of a real estate agent.

Preparing Your Home

A real estate agent is an expert at gauging what will sell a home and what will cause it to stagnate on the market. Agents work with both sellers and buyers every day, so not only do they know what other homes on the market (your competition) have to offer, but they also can offer a great insight into the minds of your target audience, buyers. Agents can advise you on what buyers are saying about your home, current buying trends, and how to best prepare your home to meet those trends and attract buyer interest. For some standard tips, see Preparing Your Home. An agent from Tom Crimmins Realty can guide you in developing a approach tailored to preparing your home for sale.

Pricing

A real estate agent is an expert on accurately pricing your home just right to make it sell. Your home's worth isn't determined by your asking price, but rather by how much buyers are willing to pay based on a supply and demand system. Buyers aren't going to buy your home if there's a similar one nearby at a lower price. An agent is in tune with sales all over the area he or she works in. He or she is familiar with recent sales in the vicinity of your home and can use that information to estimate what price you can expect to sell your home for. This allows you to price it appropriately depending on how quickly you need to sell. This is discussed in greater detail in The Importance of Pricing Your Home Correctly. At Tom Crimmins Realty, we offer our clients a complimentary comparative market analysis (CMA) that lets them know where there home currently stands in the housing market based upon local buying trends and recent home sales. Call today to talk to an agent and get your free CMA!

Marketing

As shown in the table above, today's buyers use many methods to search for homes.* A real estate agent is a marketing expert, with a vast set of tools tailored to gaining exposure for your home in your local real estate market. Experience with various marketing strategies allows an agent to develop an approach that's just right for your home and make sure that the right buyers are aware of your home. Agents at Tom Crimmins Realty employ a wide spectrum of marketing tools to get your Staten Island or Brooklyn home the exposure it deserves.

The Multiple Listing Service

The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is a database of home listings from all over the Staten Island or Brooklyn areas that markets homes to every sales agent and broker in our organization and their prospective buyers. These professionals and their clients can search by various criteria such as price, style, location, size, or features. A vast majority of all home sales involve cooperation between agents through this network. Further, many buyers sign up for automated notifications of homes within the MLS meeting their search criteria. That means your home listing is automatically e-mailed to buyers interested in exactly what you are offering. By listing with Tom Crimmins Realty, your home is a part of this system and enjoys a significant amount of passive exposure.

Beyond direct exposure through the MLS system, the Staten Island MLS automatically syndicates listings to a multitude of mainstream third-party real estate websites and databases. Local real estate associations, broker, individual, and other home search sites such as Trulia and Zillow offer considerable further exposure and information to prospective buyers and their agents. This means that when you list with Tom Crimmins Realty, your home is seen by a huge number of buyers and their agents every day.

Online Presence

With the prevalence of technology in our lives, it should come as no surprise that the internet is now the most powerful medium for marketing your home to potential buyers. For that reason, at Tom Crimmins Realty, we have adopted aggressive online marketing strategies, using our company website as a hub for an extensive online presence. Our strategy focuses on marketing our online presence in other mediums and encouraging buyers to consider our website as their go-to place for Staten Island and Brooklyn real estate. We actively market our presence online through advertising campaigns, and many of our agents have personal websites networking with our main site. Our online presence is continually growing, and we already enjoy top-tier online exposure to our intended markets.

Yard Signs

In order to generate local interest and help interested buyers find your home, yard signs can be placed on your property to indicate you've listed with Tom Crimmins Realty. A large number of buyer leads start with someone seeing these signs and wanting to know more.

Open Houses

Our agents can set up and run open houses where potential buyers can see your home first-hand. This is a great way to meet buyers and showcase your offering on the market.

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We realize that every sale is unique, and the best approach is to cater advertising to each area and each sale and to focus efforts into the areas that will produce the most results. We will work with you to ensure that homes listed in our office are getting the right exposure on a local level.

Our office regularly advertises in print media, including but not limited to the following: Staten island Advance ads, various real estate magazine ads, flyers, postcards, mailing, banners, brochures, newsletters, billboard ads, door hangers, and other promotional items seen throughout Staten Island. This exposure means more potential buyers seeing your home.

Networking

Many sales are the direct result of local real estate professionals and their networking abilities. A good real estate agent has many contacts, ranging from other agents to potential buyers to professionals in other industries. However, a truly successful agent is constantly expanding his network to include new people. At Tom Crimmins Realty, this is accomplished through social events, educational seminars, personal associates, office meetings, property tours, and other activities. This means that by trusting us with the sale or purchase of your home, you can rest assured that our agents have the contacts and networking know-how to allow for a quick and smooth transaction. Whether it's a buyer working with another agent in our office or a friend of a friend, our agents will get word of your listing to interested buyers.

Negotiating

In order for a sale to occur, both the buyer and the seller have to be happy with the transaction. Real estate agents are experienced negotiators equipped to use interpersonal skills to get the highest price for your home. Homeowners are often bad negotiators and salespeople, largely because they are emotionally attached to their homes and aren't familiar with the housing market. A good agent can work with buyers, agents, and lawyers to get the price you want.

Managing the Sale

A lot goes on behind the scenes in a real estate transaction. With the assistance of a licensed real estate agent, you can rest assured that all of these steps are being handled quickly and properly. Managing includes advertising, receiving calls, arranging showings, overseeing the transaction, and having the experience and resources to complete the sale. When you enlist the services of Tom Crimmins Realty, you enlist Tom Crimmins, your professional real estate broker, his office staff, and the entire office's network and associates. All of these professionals and their services are working for you, and that means you can focus on the sale of the home rather than the red tape.