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Home » Business And Finance Articles » The Pitfalls Of Selling Your Home Without A Realtor

The Pitfalls of Selling Your Home without a Realtor

For those individuals who use realtors to buy or sell a home, the transaction looks fairly seamless. It goes something like this:

• Buyers:

o Contact a realtor, who elicits from them what type of property they wish to purchase.

o The realtor shows them several properties, until they make an offer on one and it is accepted.

o They go with the realtor to the mortgage lender, that the realtor may have lined up for them and set the appointment. The buyers provide any information the lender needs and signs the appropriate paperwork.

o The buyers and realtor meet at the closing to sign all the papers, get the keys, and go to their new home.

• Sellers:

o Contact a realtor, who discuss with them their pricing preferences and timelines for the sale.

o Realtor does a walk-through of the property, suggesting things that should be done before listing the property.

o Sellers make the repairs or renovations.

o The realtor lists the property.

o The realtor, as well as other realtors, shows the property to potential buyers until an offer is made and accepted.

o Inspectors and appraisers show up, then leave to make their reports, and the realtor gives the results to the sellers and buyers' agent.

o Once the realtor tells them everything is complete, the sellers move out before the closing.

o Sellers and realtor meet at the closing to sign all the papers, sellers and realtor receive their checks, and they hand over the keys to the property.

This is very simplistic; yet when a realtor is handling your buying or selling needs, this is pretty much how it appears.

Of the homes sold across the nation, 20 percent are sold by the owners, without a realtor. Surveys show that the primary reason is money; the sellers wish to save the cost of a realtor's commission, which usually ranges between five and seven percent of the purchase price of the home. Unfortunately, many of these owners end up regretting their decisions, because it costs them that five-to-seven percent or more due to unexpected pitfalls in the sale.

First, there is a lot involved in the sale of a home. Realtors assist with the before-listing preparation; help you set a starting and deal-killer selling price (the price level you will not accept); setup and hold open houses; set up and coordinate all home inspections and appraisals; and set up and coordinate a real estate attorney and the closing. Realtors market your home to a broad base of interested buyers and other realtors, show your home or coordinate with you for other realtors to show it, negotiate offers, and close the sale. They even coordinate the timing of the sale, when you are buying other property that is dependent upon the sale of your home.

For buyers, realtors first help you to determine just how much you can afford to pay for a home â€" it is generally more than most people believe. They then weed through the myriad of homes that are on the market, matching potential homes to your purchase specifications. They arrange to show the homes to you, assisting in what to look for, what questions to ask, and after-showing discussions with you on possible problems or good points of the home. Realtors assist you in making an appropriate offer. They do all of the negotiations for you, representing your best interests â€" especially important when a seller has a professional representing them. Once your offer is accepted, the realtor may even suggest mortgage lenders and accompany you to your first meeting. Your realtor then works with the seller's representative to ensure all inspections, appraisals, title searches, and permitting is properly completed, negotiating for you resolutions to any bad inspections. Again, working with the seller's representative, the realtor coordinates a real estate attorney for you, as well as the closing.

Realtors know the right questions to ask â€" it is their job as professionals to keep abreast of the real estate market for their area. They handle any problems that arise, protect you as the buyer or seller, know what to avoid in real estate and during negotiations, and know what is/is not covered by the home warranty of the sale. They also ensure that all compliance and disclosure issues are dealt with properly, making sure that nothing is overlooked that could cause you a legal problem in the future.

Most importantly, a realtor maintains objectivity during an event that can be emotional for both buyers and sellers. Your realtor remains objective during negotiations, executing the best deal possible for you.

To avoid the pitfalls of selling or buying property, use a realtor, who may save you a lot of money in the long run.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Cyclic Stocks vs. Growth Stocks

In the long run the economic performance of most countries is showing an upward trend. But, although this is true, the global economy and that of individual countries is always subjected to ups and downs.

Many sectors are especially exposed to these up and down swings.

Building and construction companies, automobile companies or steel manufacturers are all hanging on the economy like a marionette on strings. Large profits are taking turns with setbacks or even huge losses during a recession.

And the shares of these companies and sectors are substantially affected by the up and down swing of the economy. When profits increase in good times, more often than not, these stocks skyrocket disproportionately. But when profits decrease, investors let go of these stocks as if they carry the plague.

OK. You might say that this ain't a problem. You just buy cyclic stocks when prices are down and sell when prices are up. By low and sell high!

But unfortunately the economy isn't quite that reliable. Especially not the stock market. If it was that easy to make money with stocks, lottery companies would all go out of business in no time.

There are all kinds of factors that can get in your way like wars, a financial and currency crisis like we had in Russia and Asia in the 90's. Or oil prices are giving us a hard time again.

So you can't tell with absolute precission when your stocks have reached the bottom just like you can't accurately tell when your stocks are at their very peak before the market corrects again.

A nice example for cyclic stocks are General Motors and Ford. The stocks of these 2 companies have performed so badly in the past that they were downgraded to junk status by the rating company Standard & Poors.

The headlines at marketwatch.com read this:

GM, Ford debt cuts take toll on stocks.

S&P slashes automakers' credit ratings to junk status.

Shares of General Motors slid 5.9% while Ford shares fell 4.5% after Standard & Poor's cut its long- and short-term corporate credit ratings on GM and Ford to such a low level, that the word "junk status" was out faster than the 2 stocks fell that day.

But what can one expect if you look at the stock charts of these two corporations.

To view the charts, please click the following link: http://www.stockbreakthroughs.com/Newsletters/cyclic-vs-growth-stocks.htm

Holding on to these stocks makes no sense and is a waste of time and money!

Often the reallity with cyclic stocks is, that investors get in to their trade too late and also get out too late. The media is also to blame for this. When the word of an upswing is out, it's in full swing already. It hasn't just started. Buying then is senseless for an investor that speculates on buying low and selling high.

And when the headlines scream "Recession", the bottom of the valley has already been reached long ago. Selling now makes little sense because by now prices are in the red again.

Also with growth stocks there's no guarantee for the fast and easy buck!

But they have one huge advantage:

In the long run, their prices only point in one direction...UP!

The entry point for a long-term investor is by far not as important as with cyclic stocks. Setbacks are more seldom and, with few exceptions, also not so violent.

A stock like Johnson & Johnson (J&J) or General Electric (GE) is the perfect example for a strong and solid growth stock:

Again, just click http://www.stockbreakthroughs.com/Newsletters/cyclic-vs-growth-stocks.htm to view the charts.

The 3 dips in J&J's chart and the one in GE was only due to the overall global recession between 2000 and 2003 after the big "Internet Bubble" popped. But while most cyclic stocks are still at the bottom, J&J and GE have long been on their way up again.

These kind of stocks you can always buy without any second thoughts.

In my experience, cyclic stocks will lose you more money and cost you more nerves than you can ever make up for with a few lucky "cyclic" trades.

Yours in Successful Trading,

Ricky Schmidt