When it comes to selling your house, you want to rest easy knowing you have an experienced real estate agent on your side.  You want to get the best offers on your house and sell it in record time.  An inexperienced real estate agent may not be able to provide that security.  Imagine losing a $75,000 profit on the sale of your house because your agent didn’t know how to negotiate. That’s just one of 6 reasons you shouldn’t hire an inexperienced real estate agent.

1. Newly Licensed Friend
2. List-to-Sell Record
3. Settling For a Low Offer
4. No Home Improvements
5. Poor Negotiator
6. Unprofessional

Listing With a Newly Licensed Friend

Your friend recently got licensed as a real estate agent and wants to list your home for sale.  She compiles a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) to determine the value of your house but uses comps from 6 months ago.  She should have used the most recent comps to avoid pricing your home too high or too low for today’s market. This is a common rookie mistake.  Priced too high, your home could sit on the market for months. If your house is priced too low, you could be leaving money on the table by accepting a below-market-value offer. 

Also, does your newly licensed friend have a strong marketing plan? With a strong web presence, professional photos of your house, social media promotions, adding your home to the MLS, etc., your house will be seen by the greatest number of homebuyers.  Without a marketing plan, your home will sit on the market for longer than necessary or it might not sell at all.

Your newly licensed friend also needs to let the marketing work before holding an open house.  By giving potential home buyers a chance to see the listing on social media and the agent's website, and for agents to see it in the MLS, interest will begin to build. After a week of extensive marketing, an open house is more likely to generate increased traffic, improving the chances of receiving multiple offers and netting a higher profit. 

• Inadequate CMA
• Lack of marketing
• Not letting the marketing work
• Limiting profit
• Limiting # of buyers looking at your home
• Small # of potential buyers in their contact base

If you want to give your newly licensed friend a chance to list your home, ask her to co-list with an experienced real estate agent.  This agent needs to have excellent reviews and an outstanding list-to-sell record.  You’ll be setting your friend up for more success and you’ll receive the service of an experienced agent.  Win, win!

List-to-Sell Record

If you want an experienced real estate agent, ask for their list-to-sell record.  

• Out of all the homes they’ve listed, how many have sold?  
• How long were these homes on the market?  
• How many homes sold for over asking price?  

When you’ve got an experienced agent who sells the majority of homes they list in a short amount of time and at a high price, you can rest assured knowing that you’re in good hands.

Settling For a Low Offer

Your real estate agent is obligated to work to bring you the highest possible offer on the sale of your house.  If you bought your house for $210,000 and sold it for $300,000, you’d be happy right?  That’s quite a profit.  What if you could have sold it for $375,000?  Why leave $75,000 on the table using an inexperienced real estate agent, when an experienced agent could net you the highest possible profit in the end.

An experienced agent knows the value of homes in your neighborhood, what the recent "sold" prices are, and what buyers are willing to pay for a home like yours.  Don't leave money on the table by choosing an inexperienced real estate agent to represent the sale of your home.

No Home Improvements

If your real estate agent doesn’t think any home improvements need to be made, when they do, you should consider hiring a more experienced agent.  Your agent should be suggesting home improvements to generate more buyer interest and to secure a higher sales price. 

Home improvements might include painting the walls a neutral color, updating the bathroom tile, new lighting fixtures, or possibly a new roof.  Even small improvements, like decluttering, can result in more buyer interest and a generous profit.  If your budget prevents you from physically staging your home, ask your agent about digitally staging it.  Don’t settle for an agent who isn’t willing to go above and beyond to make sure your house looks its best before putting it on the market.

Your real estate agent should suggest home improvements to

generate more buyer interest and secure a higher sales price.

Poor Negotiator

If you want to make the highest profit from the sale of your house, you need a real estate agent with strong negotiation skills.  Only an experienced agent will know how to handle multiple offers, bidding wars, and negotiate with other agents. An experienced real estate agent will make recommendations based on other transactions they’ve negotiated.  Without a strong negotiator on your side, you may end up settling for an offer that is far below what a buyer is willing to pay.

When selling your house, ask your agent if you’re in a seller’s market (in your favor) or a buyer’s market, as it will affect how much negotiating power your agent has.  Can you negotiate the closing costs?  Should you make a counteroffer?  An experienced agent will have these answers and more.

• Highly competitive markets
• Contributing to closing costs
• Seller’s market or buyer’s market
• Counteroffer or final offer
• Negotiating repairs

Unprofessional

The characteristics of an unprofessional real estate agent include showing up late for appointments or canceling them at the last minute, not returning your calls or texts, and having an unprofessional appearance, among other things. You need an agent who values your time, has great communication skills and dresses the part.  The following traits of an unprofessional agent should also be avoided:

• Makes you feel uncomfortable
• Poor listening skills
• Too pushy
• Desperate

Conclusion

There are many reasons to choose an experienced real estate agent over an inexperienced real estate agent when selling your house.  Find a local, experienced agent who knows how to prep your home for sale, negotiate with other agents and secure the best possible offer on your home.  Don’t hesitate to interview a variety of listing agents until you find an experienced agent who’s a good fit.  And don’t feel pressured to sign a listing agreement with an agent if you don’t feel good about the partnership.  If you need help finding an experienced real estate agent in your area, please let us know by emailing us at info@reazo.com .  

Learn even more about selling your house in our comprehensive guide: