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Do you want a Professional to Represent You?
Do you need assistance with Home Preparation?
Do you want accurate market information to price your
home competitively?
Do you want your realtor to be knowledgeable about your
community and your neighborhood to help enhance the
benefits of purchasing your home?
Do you want a strategic marketing plan which showcases
your home on the internet, MLS, Realtor.com, Boston.com
and other Web Sites and Print Materials?
Contact me to be your Realtor! I provide you with
experience, reputation and commitment to ensure a
successful home sale. Click below For RE/MAX
Market Share Grafts. These grafts show that in
choosing me to Represent You, You have made the right
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Mansfield
Norton
Foxboro
Choose a
REALTOR® to Sell Your Home
Once you've decide to sell
your home, finding a REALTOR® is the next step in the
process. In making this important decision you should
understand:
- Who is a REALTOR®
- How to evaluate an
agent
- What a REALTOR®
will do for you
- Selling on your own
If you’re not in a "must
sell" situation (job transfer, career opportunity,
family upheaval, financial hardship), but rather in an
"elective" one, you may want to consider adding on to
your current home (if you need more space) or
refinancing to lower monthly mortgage costs (if finances
are a concern).
Who is a REALTOR®?
The terms agent, broker and REALTOR® are often used
interchangeably, but have very different meanings. For
example, not all agents (also called salespersons) or
brokers are REALTORS®. Learn who is a REALTOR® and the
reasons why you should use one. As a prerequisite to
selling real estate, a person must be licensed by the
state in which they work, either as an agent/salesperson
or as a broker. Before a license is issued, minimum
standards for education, examinations and experience,
which are determined on a state by state basis, must be
met.
After receiving a real
estate license, most agents go on to join their local
board or association of REALTORS® and the NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, the world's largest
professional trade association. They can then call
themselves REALTORS®. The term "REALTOR®" is a
registered collective membership mark that identifies a
real estate professional who is a member of the NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict
Code of Ethics (which in many cases goes beyond
state law). In most areas, it is the REALTOR® who shares
information on the homes they are marketing, through a
Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Working with a REALTOR®
who belongs to an MLS will give you access to the
greatest number of homes.
How to evaluate an
agent
Without any obligation, you can invite local REALTORS®
to visit your home and give you a "listing presentation"
about why they're the best ones to market it for you.
Two to three presentations will probably give you a good
opportunity for choice. A listing presentation includes
having the REALTOR® review with you the reasons why you
should list with that particular individual, and
providing you with information that will assist you in
making initial decisions about selling your home.
Recent laws in every
state have defined the duties of someone specifically
retained as a real estate agent. Most states require a
real estate agent to explain his or her role at the
outset of any conversation. A professional agent will
promptly provide this such a disclosure. Look for an
agent who:
- Is a member of the
local board or association of REALTORS®
- Explains and
discloses agency relationships (the role of the
agent, i.e., who they are representing--the buyer or
the seller) early on in the process, at "serious
first contact"
- Advises you on how
to prepare your home for the market
- Shows some
enthusiasm for your property, listens attentively,
instills confidence, operates in a professional
manner, and has a complementary personality style to
yours
- Has already
researched your property in the public records and
the MLS
- Brings data on
nearby homes that have sold (or failed to sell)
recently
The following are
important questions to ask a potential agent:
- Are you a REALTOR®?
- Do you have an
active real estate license in good standing. To find
this information, you can check with your state’s
governing agency.
- Do you belong to
the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and/or a reliable
online home buyer’s search service? Multiple Listing
Services are cooperative information networks of
REALTORS® that provide descriptions of most of the
houses for sale in a particular region.
- If there's no
nearby MLS, how often do you cooperate with other
local brokers on a sale?
- What have you
listed or sold in this neighborhood lately?
- Do you cooperate
with buyers' brokers?
- What share of the
commission will you offer a cooperating broker who
finds the buyer?
And in addition to the
criteria mentioned above, there are number of very
important reasons you will typically prefer to work with
a REALTOR®. Among them are the fact that they adhere to
the NAR’s highest standards of ethical conduct and
professional training.
What a REALTOR® will
do for you
There are many important reasons to use a REALTOR®. Some
of the duties your REALTOR® will perform for you
include:
- Walking through the
process of selling your home from beginning to end
- Providing
comparable information about the prices for which
other properties have sold and analyzing data for
you to gain a true comparison
- Supplying
information regarding local customs and regulations
you may want to consider
- Sharing information
about your home through the Multiple Listing Service
and on the Internet
- Placing
advertisements for your home
- Fielding phone
calls
- "Qualifying"
potential buyers to make sure they would be
financially able to buy your property
- Negotiating the
sales contract
- Alerting you to
potential risks
- Complying with the
disclosures required by law
- Providing you with
an estimate of the closing costs you will incur
- Helping you prepare
for a smooth closing of the transaction.
Contact me to be your Realtor!
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