Selling Your Home: Do You Require a Real Estate Agent?
The major consideration for every home seller is whether to go solo or appoint a real estate agent to oversee the sale. The recent escalation of services that help home sellers to complete their own real estate transactions have left everyone wondering, is using a real estate agent slowly becoming a relic of the bygone era? While undertaking the work yourself can have its own benefits, for example, you can save a significant amount of commission that the real estate agents demand, there are certain factors that require consideration before taking the actual decision. Flying solo may not be everyone’s forte, because, if not done in an appropriate manner, it might end up costing you more in the long run.
Selling your home is a major financial as well as emotional undertaking. So, whether you want to take the old-school route of appointing an agent or jump on the bandwagon and go solo, you need to assess your options first.
In this article, we will outline the basics of what a seller needs to do before embarking on a sale, with an emphasis on whether you need to appoint a real estate agent.
Do you require a real estate agent by law?
Appointing a real estate agent for selling a house is not mandatory at all. Even in Singapore, it’s not compulsory to hire a property or real estate agent. However, property agents do fill a gap in the service industry, catering to people who prefer a seamless transaction rather than taking on the responsibility themselves.
DIY (Do it yourself)
If you decide to get on with the transaction all by yourself, you will be specifically engaging in a process known as “for sale by owners”. This is a great way to attain the full sale price, as you can skip paying commission fees. Yes, along the way you will probably develop a better understanding of how and why real estate agents charge the commission for the work. However, you must also be prepared to invest much more time, effort and energy than you thought you reasonably should.
Before budging in, consider checking out the market situation in your locality or the area where your property is located. If it’s a buyer market, you will be in for a hard time, if you want to unload your home by yourself. You will be competing against professional real estate agents whose sole job is to sell homes. On the other hand, you will need to balance your life and work to create and invest time for the transaction. You will need to do your own comparative market analysis to determine the appropriate price.
Legal considerations of selling it yourself
The first thing you need to do is learn about the laws of Singapore that govern real estate transactions, as these will indicate the type of paperwork you need, the authorities to contact, whose signature you will require on the documents, etc. In case there are certain impediments, it’s important to be aware of the legal steps to handle the situation. So, it’s advisable to hire a real estate attorney to take care of the legal issues.
Hiring a real estate agent
If you feel that selling your property yourself is not your cup of tea, you can always appoint a real estate agent to do it for you. However, even if the agent charges a huge amount as commission fees, it will save you a lot of time and effort in the long run. These experienced professionals are skilled at listing your property in the right places and setting them up to potential buyers. In case you need to sell-off your property within a limited period of time, they are the best bet at doing so. Even in case of any complications, they are specifically trained to counter such situations.
Real estate agents are licensed professionals; therefore, they will certainly face some repercussions if they try to dupe you. When you are working under an agency agreement, (a conventional, full-service commission agreement through which the agent agrees to represent you), both parties to the agreement will be bound by Singapore law into a fiduciary relationship. In simple terms, the agent is bound by license law to act in your best interest (but not his or her own).
Bottom line
Many people forgo using a real estate agent to save money. However, you should keep in mind that it is most likely that the seller of the home will reap the benefits of paying commissions.
When you are selling your property on your own, you will estimate its valuation after comparing it with other relevant properties in your area. Most of these properties will likely be sold with the help of real estate agents. This means the seller gets to keep the percentage of the sale price that, would have been paid to the agents in other cases.
Certainly, there are people qualified to sell their own homes, but when taking a quick look at the long list of frequently asked questions on most cases of sale by owner websites, it becomes evident that the process isn’t as simple as most people assume. If you get into a difficult situation, it really pays off to have a qualified professional on your side.
The ball is in your court, choose wisely.
