To prevent potential blunders, here are 5 reasons to hire a Realtor to sell your home:
1. Employ an expert: A typical property owner does not have anywhere near the home-selling experience of a real-estate agent.   Agents can recommend relatively simple improvements — painting, repairing, decluttering — that can help a home sell faster and for a better price. They can walk through a property and see right away what needs to be done to get the home sold. Independent sellers might not be aware of these tricks of the trade.
2. Use diverse resources: Homeowners using agents can get their property listed on multiple real estate websites, which has more far-reaching access to market that property.  Independent sellers do not have access to many of these services.
3. Avoid possible lawsuits: Agents can also protect sellers from potential litigation.  A homeowner could, for example, tell a potential buyer that hardwood floors extend to all corners of the house underneath the wall-to-wall carpeting.  But if even one room has concrete flooring, the homeowner could be sued. Agents, who have experience dealing with these liability issues, can help homeowners avoid such scenarios.
4. Avoid the riffraff: Independent sellers might not have any idea whom they are letting into their homes during open houses and viewings.   These potential buyers might not qualify for a loan to make the purchase — and would therefore be wasting the homeowner's time — or could even try to rob them later on.  Homeowners working with agents will have qualified buyers visiting their properties.
5. Avoid hardball tactics: It's a buyer's market. And with all the information available on-line, today's well-informed buyers are tough negotiators.  Real-estate agents have been through the home-selling process before and are trained in negotiating tactics, giving them a potential edge in negotiating the best deal for the seller.  It’s very difficult to do that with your own property, particularly if you are not a professional.