Have you ever asked yourself if you should sell your house in Cumbre del Sol through a real estate agent?
You may have been faced with the dilemma of whether to do it on your own or turn to professionals.
In this article, we point out a number of dangers if you opt to go it alone.
Is a real estate agency really needed to sell a house?
Going out on a limb to sell a house in Cumbre del Sol, on your own requires time and knowledge of the real estate market. If you have neither, you will most likely end up making mistakes over and over that will only cause you problems. We are talking, for example, about setting an appropriate asking price and dealing with viewings, two things that most homeowners turn to real estate agents for.
In this regard, the first novice mistake is to believe that simply posting an ad on real estate portals should do the trick. While this is a key step in kickstarting the process, it is not the only one. Furthermore, visibility of private ads on such platforms is much lower than for ads posted by agencies.
A real estate agency in Cumbre del Sol, for example, will have premium accounts on the online platforms with featured ads. In this way, everything posted will have a far greater impact, in particular in cities with abundant supply (such as Madrid and Barcelona). At this level, professionals have a significant leg up when it comes to putting a property on the market.
Know the risks of doing things without a real estate agency
On top of your property getting less visibility, there are certain risks involved in not using these professionals to sell your property. The most important are those stemming from contracts that are signed prior to the sale and setting the wrong asking price.
Setting the wrong price
Setting the asking price comes down to a range of variables but, above all, it depends on the state of the market. Homeowners who are emotionally attached to their property are not the most objective when it comes to setting an asking price. Quite often, they set the price way above the market value, making it less attractive to buyers, in turn, turning it into along and drawn-out process. On the other hand, those looking for a quick sale with a distorted view of the industry tend to underprice, meaning they could be losing a significant amount of money.
However, a real estate agency knows exactly how much properties are worth, depending on their characteristics and the price that similar properties sold for. To do so, they visit the property beforehand and carry out a free valuation to explain to the customer what this valuation is based on. The real estate agent can also offer advice on what you can do to increase the value and meet your needs.
Furthermore, these professionals not only call on their day-to-day experience, they also use analytical IT tools. They use them to carry out ongoing analyses of the real estate market with surprising results: the average selling time, the price per square metre, the target market, etc.
Contracts
Before setting up an appointment with a notary to legalise the sale, some basic legal paperwork needs to be done. This is where a real estate agency’s experience really comes into play, because they know the ins and outs of this protocol and are able to better advise their clients. On the one hand, there is the deposit, which must be paid and a pre-contract to be signed.
Signing this contract comes with certain conditions, for example, that the buyer can no longer keep showing the property, among others. Therefore, the contract must be well drawn up and understood by both parties with a view to avoiding legal issues further down the line.
However, even more importantly is the earnest money contract, through which the interested party pays a percentage of the agreed asking price. The higher this amount, the lower the chances are that either party will back out of the contract. In fact, breaching this will cost you a fortune. Should you end up deciding not to sell, after the earnest money contract has been signed, you would have to pay the buyer double the amount of the deposit. If the buyer withdraws, they will have to pay you this amount.
In some situations, the parties pay a notary to legalise the earnest money contract, giving it greater legal validity, although this comes at a cost. However, when this is done through a real estate agent, they act as guarantor and draw up all these contracts and ensure that they are understood.
To sum up, to confidently sell your house in Cumbre del Sol, we recommend doing it through a real estate agency. As you can see, there are quite a few risks you could face if you do it yourself. If you are looking for advice, call us and we will be happy to assist you. We will value your property for free!