With the presence of big, online home listing portals and easy access for finding listed properties, what is the value of a good San Diego real estate agent? Is there any value in working with California Realtors, or is this a profession on the brink of extinction? If there are any reasons to still work with a real estate agent when selling or buying a home in San Diego County, what are they?
The Internet continues to buzz with debates over whether or not savvy real estate agents are worth what they were in the past. There are still those that will argue that real estate agents are ‘experts’ in there respective areas. Otherwise referred to as a ‘neighborhood expert,’ this individuals have the inside scoop on what is going on in particular areas. Neighborhood expertise can be valuable. Not everyone will appreciate this value, of course, and it certainly isn’t an exclusive or scarce item. It won’t be long before everyone can become a neighborhood expert online in about 5 minutes.
Real estate investors have a long standing feud with Realtors, even though they occasionally partner up. In many cases, investors can certainly operate without them, and may offer the more valuable and essential services to San Diego home buyers and distressed sellers. However, the average home buyer and seller, and even investor can absolutely find times when having a pro in their corner is definitely worth it.
First of all, it’s no secret that the ‘big 3’ online real estate listing platforms can be a complete joke when it comes to actually finding homes for sale. There are all types of data reporting on inaccuracies, but anyone who has attempted to use them no doubt already knows what a futile mission it can be to find a listing that is actually still for sale.
When buyers get serious about buying a home in SoCal, they’ll almost invariably turn to direct help from a local agent or to a direct seller. Having said that, the following will illustrate the value of a quality San Diego real estate agent:
- Negotiations – there are many advantages of having a professional third party negotiator.
- Getting help with correctly pricing a home for sale or evaluating what one is worth.
- Benefiting from professional ‘expertise’ when it comes to staging and presenting a home.
- Concierge services.
- Trusted referrals – it can be hard to know who to trust for all types of services when buying or selling a home in San Diego.
- Transaction management can be valuable to juggle all the parties involved in a closing.
- Screening buyers, sellers, tenants, lenders which can otherwise be costly and a painful.
- Time savings.
- Legal and liability protections – contract writing and representation when buying and selling is important, and an attorney alone won’t cover all of the angles.
What’s this worth you ask? How about their weight in gold?
Buying or selling a home by yourself can work. You might not have any choice if you are just days from foreclosure. However, there are plenty of stories in which going about it alone has resulted in more expenditures and more problems than anticipated. So let’s not write off Realtors as a profession yet. Just know what’s really important to you, what that is worth, and when using a real estate agent is really beneficial. A San Diego real estate agent might be the one thing that keeps your next deal together.
