Having an agent represent you in your home sale benefits you. Agents negotiate from a different vantage. Unlike most buyers and sellers, they can remove themselves from the emotional aspects of the transaction. Agents are more proficient in negotiating because conducting negotiations is a regular part of their professional work and practice has honed their skills. It’s part of the real estate agent job description and training. Good agents are not simply go-between messengers delivering buyer’s offers to sellers and carrying counter offers back and forth. They are professionals who are trained to advise their client on their options and the consequences of their choices and then present their client’s case in the best light while holding client information confidential from competing interests. The real estate agent can be a buffer between seller and buyer, keeping the transaction professional and “at arm’s length.” This is important in the negotiation phase when emotions are liable to be at their highest. The real estate agent can further assist by filtering all those phone calls that lead to nowhere from bargain hunters and real estate window-shoppers. Having a real estate agent when the home is being shown is a distinct advantage for a number of reasons. The agent will field the scheduling calls, arranging them for the seller’s convenience to the best of their ability. The agent is also the one to physically show the home, saving the seller that time-investment. The agent fields the follow up questions. In short, having an agent will lessen the seller’s time and energy investment, while encouraging serious buyers to immediately write an offer. Handling real estate transaction paperwork is also a big boon to the seller. One-page deposit receipts were prevalent 40 years ago. Today’s purchase agreements run 10 pages or more. That does not include the federal- and state-mandated disclosures, nor disclosures dictated by local custom. Most real estate files average
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