Should you use a real estate broker to sell in a hot market?

The real estate market in 2021 was very hot, and that could continue well into 2022. This is a seller’s market, which means that it seems very easy to get the desired price, even without the services that a real estate broker provides: advising on how to ready a house for market, providing an opinion on what price will generate the most interest, marketing the property, and showing it to potential buyers. I’ve seen a lot of deals get closed without any brokers collecting a commission check from the seller. It’s understandable that somene might want to keep that extra money.

Before deciding whether or not to hire a broker, however, it’s important to understand that showing houses is not all that they do. Once a binder is signed, brokers and agents don’t get paid unless and until the deal is closed. This creates an incentive to solve problems. I’ve seen several deals linger for months because the lender had a requirement that was hard to understand, or a weird building permit issue cropped up, or some other issue emerged that was confusing or complicated. The one thing that they all have in common is that no broker is involved.

The job of the attorneys is to review contracts with their clients, and then to make sure that the contract terms have been complied with by the time of the closing. If there are issues about the septic, or whether the house needs to be painted, or a pothole in the driveway, it is usually not something attorneys address during this process. These are examples of issues that may be minor, but could hold up or blow up a deal entirely. They are also examples of the types of problems that real estate brokers and agents work to solve.

It’s not easy to predict what roadblocks could show up on the way to closing a real estate deal. It may be smooth sailing all the way, but those waters can get awfully choppy, too. It’s often only in hindsight that a seller will know if hiring a broker to take care of issues large and small was a waste of money, or the best decision that could have been made.

Choose wisely.