How To Sell Your Home in Today's Market
Are you thinking about putting your East Valley, AZ home on the market? If so, then you probably have a few questions such as how to sell your home in today's market, how to list your home and coordinate showings, and how to sell your house for the most money? Working with an experienced real estate agent to sell your East Valley home, compared to other methods such as iBuyers or trying to sell your home on your own (FSBO), does have its advantages.
Let's take a look at all three ways to sell your home in today's market to find out which is the best option for you:
Traditional home selling with an agent
Of course, the most tried-and-true method of selling a home quickly AND for the best price is to enlist the services of a real estate agent. REALTORS® act as facilitators in the sale process, working with their seller-clients to assess the home’s value, list the home for sale, ensure that the home is repaired, updated, cleaned, prepared and staged, and coordinate showings with other agents and potential buyers. They also help you evaluate offers, negotiate terms with the buyer, and ensure the deal goes through successfully. Real estate agents typically operate on a commission-based fee model. The seller’s agent is compensated at a percentage of the final sales price, usually around 6%, which is then split with the buyer’s agent.
iBuyers
iBuyers are online companies such as Opendoor, Offerpad, Redfin Now, and Zillow Instant Offers that purchase homes directly from the homeowner, typically by way of a cash offer. How it works is that you provide information about your property on an iBuyer website and receive an offer either right away or within a few days. If you choose to accept the offer, you can select a closing date and collect your money. However, if you want to sell your house for top-dollar, the convenience of selling to an iBuyer comes at a price. With iBuying, you’re typically selling your home at a discount, and what you are getting in return are speed and certainty. If those benefits are more important to you than getting top-dollar for your home, then iBuying is a viable option. But if profit is your main priority, a traditional home sale working with a real estate agent is probably your best bet.
Selling Your Home on Your Own (FSBO)
There is also the option to sell your home yourself or FSBO. Keep in mind that if you choose to sell your East Valley, AZ home on your own without a real estate agent, you will be the one responsible for marketing your house, possibly by listing it on Zillow or an FSBO-focused website. You will also be the one coordinating showings with buyers and their agents, handling the negotiations, contracts, and other details of the sale, or enlisting a real estate attorney for help.
But if you need help and guidance during the sales process, are not well-versed in real estate, and want to ensure that your home sells for top dollar, FSBO may not be the best option for you. When you sell your home with a REALTOR®, there’s lots of available help and hand-holding throughout the selling process as well as access to agent marketing tools and listing services, assistance with negotiations and contracts, connections to local vendors and industry partners (inspectors, contractors, professional stagers, etc.), and a lot less work for you.
Selling your East Valley, AZ home with a Professional REALTOR® - Cathy Carter
Traditional home selling first requires that you find a qualified agent to partner with. Cathy Carter is a highly-rated East Valley, AZ REALTOR® with over 25 years of experience. When you hire Cathy as your agent, she will first visit your home and assess it in detail to provide an approximate valuation (based on age and condition of the home as well as nearby sales comparison data). Once you agree to a listing price, Cathy will then list your East Valley, AZ home for sale on the MLS as well as other real estate sites that buyers frequently visit to search online for homes. To encourage offers, upgrades to the home might be recommended, including home repairs, cleaning, and staging.
Home showings and open houses are also part of selling a home the traditional way. Cathy partners with some of the best home stagers in the area and will offer suggestions for preparing your home accordingly and make it available for showings to receive a purchase offer. Once an offer is received, there are various steps involved before the home is actually sold, including contingencies, such as the appraisal and loan approval. With a real estate agent like Cathy by your side, the experience of selling your home is a very personalized and pleasant one, not to mention the higher profits the REALTOR® sale process typically offers sellers compared to iBuyers and FSBO.
As your agent, Cathy will help you price your house, create a comprehensive marketing plan, stage your home, hold open houses, communicate with prospective buyers, negotiate offers, and put out any fires that might erupt along the way. Most home sellers will agree that all that help is worth every penny, especially when you are making one of the biggest transactions in your life.
Read what Cathy's valued clients have to say:
"Cathy was a terrific agent from beginning to end. Her comps were accurate and helpful at the outset. Her marketing was the best we have seen in our experience and we have sold 7 previous homes. She handled all the selling and closing negotiations very well and helped us navigate several anxious turns in the process. Cathy is calm, judicious, and responsive and we found her opinions and ideas valuable. We would use her to sell or buy a house again without hesitation. Great to work with and got great results."
"Cathy Carter is a highly respected, seasoned real estate professional who is very responsive, knowledgable, and open-minded. She kept my deal together by going beyond the call of duty to do some of the work of a novice agent (representing the buyer) on the sale of my house. Plus, she really went to bat for me on the purchase of my new home, getting upgrades and closing in 3-weeks. I highly recommend Cathy to represent you in selling and purchasing your next home or investment."
“I have dealt with many real estate agents and I would have to say Cathy Carter was a pleasure to deal with. We flew in from New York to see the area and Cathy gave us as much time as we needed. She showed us around and made us feel comfortable and welcome. As of today we are currently in contract for the sale of our home and are actively looking at homes in the Gilbert and Chandler areas. Cathy emails homes for us to look at on a regular basis and we would not use anyone else.”
“My husband and I worked with Cathy to find our home in the East Valley suburbs of Phoenix AZ. We were transferred to Phoenix from the east coast and Cathy did a wonderful job of orienting us to the area and helping us gain perspective into the different homes and neighborhoods in the East Valley. While working with Cathy, she was always very attentive and efficient. Cathy is extremely knowledgeable. She listened to our ideas about the ideal home, offered suggestions, and took us to see properties that were in line with our expectations. Cathy is extremely responsive and has even reached out to check on us after we moved into our hew home. I would highly recommend Cathy to anyone who is interested in selling their home or purchasing a new home.”
More client reviews
Cathy works extremely hard for clients and provides the kind of knowledge, skills, commitment, and personalized service you need. If you are considering selling your Phoenix East Valley home in today's market, please give Cathy a call today at (480) 459-8488 or you can get in touch via email.
CATHY CARTER, ABR, CRS, CDPE
RE/MAX Alliance Group
725 W. Elliot Rd., Suite 111
Gilbert, AZ. 85233
Cell: 480-459-8488
Toll-Free: 800-519-5578
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