Once you have gone through a property transaction in your life you might feel comfortable going though the following real estate purchase or sale without a real estate agent or Realtor®. Who does not have the itch to save extra money? Some folks think of Realtors as a typical salesman, just a different industry. Therefore, buyers and sellers begin to establish a mentality of saving more money while eliminating a licensed Real estate agent. Collected facts and statistics show that you would actually loose money by not using a licensed Realtor. Even the biggest private investors and corporations with big number of real estate assets seek advice from professional Realtors in their area. A broken down list of reasons follows.

[Pricing] The most important step is pricing your listing properly. If you charge too little, then you obviously lost money on the deal. If your price is too high you won't attract active buyers in your area to see it. The longer a property stays on the market for sale, the more consumers begin to wonder what's wrong with it?

[Understading the local market] You need to understand the Real Estate market, especially the one where you want to own or sell in the coming future. A Professional licensed Realtor® typically spends years gathering experience with laws, contracts, forms and most importantly negotiation skills. A local Realtor® can give you up-to-date information on what is happening in the marketplace, the price, home loans, terms and condition of the competing properties. These are key factors in all property transactions despite your location. Yes, you might be able to Google for many of these items over the weekends but results will still vary as the collected data from the web is usually manipulated to cause specific trends in the market. By using a Realtor you're in a full legal contract with an individual who will act honestly on your behalf. There is really no guarantee or honesty in results of a "Google search". So, make your choice, do you want to take the risk?

[Availability] You have to be available to show the property at different hours of the day. You will need to make sure everyone who is interested in seeing the place and wants to makes an offer is helped with the showing. If you hire a Realtor®, they will schedule the appointments, and show it on your behalf and you won't miss any showings while at work or the beach! Buyers who don't have the time to go see places every evening or weekend can describe their search criteria to an agent who can then checkout the property and identify whether or not it is worth the buyer's time.

[Traffic to your home] As a seller how can you generate traffic for your house and be able to get the word out about it? Maybe Craigslist or some other listing website? Be careful as you may get some uninvited guests and find random door knocks during the day. Yes, you might be able to list on random locations on the web but it will only end up with bogus results. An experienced Realtor® will not only list your home on MLS, but will have marketing strategies for increased exposure on the real estate market.

[Contracts] Another important function of a Realtor is to make sure that all the paperwork is handled correctly. Do you want to go through all the stress of listing and selling your house or condo and then find out something that could have been avoided but is now a deal-breaker? As a buyer do you want to focus on designing and moving into your new home or sit on Google to fully understand contract terms?

These are just few of the reasons from my book, the list can keep on going depending on the variables at play in any given transaction. If you need buying and selling advice in New York City or Long Island area including Nassau & Suffolk counties use the contact page. Below are some key statistical facts quoted from NAR's 2018 Buyers and sellers report.

1. Eighty-seven percent of buyers recently purchased their home through a real estate agent or broker, and six percent purchased directly from a builder or builder’s agent.
2. Having an agent to help them find the right home was what buyers wanted most when choosing an agent at 52 percent.
3. Forty-one percent of buyers used an agent that was referred to them by a friend, neighbor, or relative and 12 percent used an agent that they had worked with in the past to buy or sell a home.
4. Sixty-eight percent of buyers interviewed only one real estate agent during their home search.
5. Ninety percent of buyers would use their agent again or recommend their agent to others.