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Selling Your Home With Or Without A Real Estate Agent: What’s The Difference?

Brian Lee BurkeBrian Lee Burke
Dec 10, 2021 5 min read
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Selling Your Home With Or Without A Real Estate Agent: What’s The Difference?

Selling your home is a complicated process. Traditionally, to make it less difficult, you can hire a local real estate agent who’ll handle everything. But if you’re the non-traditional type who wants to fly solo or just looking to get the most out of the sale, you can sell your home independently.

Knowing the difference between using an agent or venturing out on your own might be helpful if you can't decide which approach to take.

Selling Your Home Without A Real Estate Agent

If you’re considering selling your home without a realtor, you’re taking the less traveled path. And if you’re going this route, you have a few options. 

Opt For Cash Buyers

If you’re looking for a fast sale, you can sell your home for cash. Cash buyers and house-buying companies like Safe Home Offer and others are individuals or businesses that purchase your home outright without the need for lender financing.

Ready to find your dream home in Colorado?
Let us help you. Call or Text Kenna Real Estate Group at 303-955-4220 to get personalized assistance from our expert real estate agents. Find out what your home is worth in today's market.

Unlike working with a real estate agent, you don’t have to pay any commission fee. You can also avoid home inspection delays. If you’re selling your home to a cash buyer, you’re generally selling it as is, and there’s no need to do complete repairs or home inspections. 

Furthermore, you don’t have to worry about home staging and accommodating immediate home showings and open houses. You don’t have to be stressed cleaning and preparing your home.

Also, unlike working with realtors, you don’t have to wait for months to close the deal. With cash buyers, you can immediately close the deal since they’re buying your home with cash. The closing date will also be the date of your choice.

Selling through cash buyers also has its cons. Cash buyers often lower your asking price when compared to selling via realtors. Most cash buyers are investors or flippers. This means they don’t want to pay more than necessary to close the deal.

Ready to find your dream home in Colorado?
Let us help you. Call or Text Kenna Real Estate Group at 303-955-4220 to get personalized assistance from our expert real estate agents. Find out what your home is worth in today's market.

In addition, there’s also the potential for an unethical buyer or scammers to exist. Avoiding them is easy, but some people can still fall for their foul work. If you’re going with this route, make sure to research thoroughly about the cash buyer.

For Sale By Owner (FSBO)

Sellers can go solo and sell their homes on their own. This allows you to save on commission and gives you better control over the entire process. However, with this added control comes great responsibility. Without a realtor, you’ll have to advertise and market your home listing and price it accordingly. You also need to host walkthroughs and open houses.  

You’re also more likely to sell your home for less than if you hire a realtor. According to statistics, realtors sell homes for 6% more than FSBO sellers. In addition, it’s also far more time-consuming. Without a realtor, you’ll have to deal with marketing and communications. You should be available to respond to inquiries on days, nights, and even weekends. Failing to do so would mean you’ll lose potential buyers.

Then, there are also the legal ins and outs of a home sale. FSBO sellers who don’t know the legal parts can get in trouble with the law or waste time completing legal paperwork.

Ready to find your dream home in Colorado?
Let us help you. Call or Text Kenna Real Estate Group at 303-955-4220 to get personalized assistance from our expert real estate agents. Find out what your home is worth in today's market.

Selling Your Home With A Real Estate Agent

Hiring a real estate agent is the norm. After all, they’re educated and experienced in buying and selling homes. They know the market and can handle your home’s listing, marketing, and closing paperwork.

In addition, your home will likely sell faster since they have access to the right marketing tools and the experience to increase its exposure. They can spot severe buyers and negotiate a fair price for your home.

Since real estate agents do the hard work of selling your home, they charge a hefty commission. Commissions generally range between 4-6% across the country, although they may be lower or higher depending on the market. As the seller, you’ll have to pay the commission unless you can negotiate a split with the buyer. 

Ready to find your dream home in Colorado?
Let us help you. Call or Text Kenna Real Estate Group at 303-955-4220 to get personalized assistance from our expert real estate agents. Find out what your home is worth in today's market.

Other than the hefty commission, selling through a real estate agent can take a long time. On average, homes spend an average of 25 days on the market. After an offer is accepted, a home sale can take another 30 to 45 days to close before it’s officially sold. Thus, the average time to sell a home is about 55-70 days.

This time also depends on local market conditions, seasonality, and demand. In addition, realtors will want you to make necessary repairs and fix your home to appeal to a potential buyer, which can be timely and costly. Realtors can also negotiate your selling price, lowering the price you hope to sell for.

Conclusion

And there you have it! Whatever selling option you choose will eventually sell your home. Every situation has pros and cons, so weigh these in before deciding how you’ll sell your house.

Contact Kenna Real Estate Group

WRITTEN BY
Brian Lee Burke
Brian Lee Burke
AUTHOR, E-PRO®, REALTOR® BROKER

Brian Lee Burke is the founder and team leader of Kenna Real Estate Group, a real estate team at Keller Williams DTC. A licensed REALTOR® since 2002, Brian helps Colorado buyers and sellers navigate residential real estate, new construction, pricing, and negotiation. He is also the author of The Real Estate Playbook and Mastering Real Estate: Your Guide to Becoming a Top Agent.

View Brian Lee Burke’s full profile.