Planning to buy a dream house? Do you hire a realtor or go at it alone? With online platforms putting the information at your fingertips, the DIY route is tempting. After all, a realtor costs money, so doing all the leg work can save you quite a bundle.
But do you really want to base what’s likely the biggest purchase of your life on the information you found online? Let’s explore why you’re better off hiring a realtor when buying your dream home.
Outdated Listings
While listing websites aren’t a farce, they often don’t have your best interest at heart. Consider this scenario—you’ve waded through a multitude of listings to find the perfect home. It checks all the right boxes—location, size, style, neighborhood, and school district. It’s within your budget, and you can already picture the kind of life that your family will lead there.
But when you reach out to the listing agent—the home closed months ago. Besides the crushing disappointment, it’s back to square one. Sadly, such scenarios replay frequently for most buyers.
That’s because property listing websites are driven by ad revenue. As such, these sites make every effort to attract online traffic. While they’re quick to list available properties, the listings remain live long after the property sells. Keeping outdated listings live helps pad the online traffic, making the sites more attractive to advertisers.
Data Accuracy isn’t Guaranteed
The appeal of online home estimates is undeniable, but you should take the data with a grain of salt. At best, you get a ballpark figure of what you need to move into a neighborhood or purchase a specific home. Otherwise, you may waste valuable time bidding on an overvalued property—because these estimates can be off by up to 20%. If you were to proceed with the sale, you’d overpay for your new home by tens of thousands of dollars—way more than it’d cost to hire a professional realtor.
Listing Sites don’t Paint the Whole Picture
Most listing sites are nothing more than property aggregators—they pull and aggregate listings available from other websites. As a result, they can’t guarantee property availability or pricing accuracy.
Worse still, properties listed on these websites tend to attract a lot of attention—mostly from unqualified buyers. To remedy this, many realtors aren’t listing their best properties.
They’re reserving the crème of the market for their clients as it makes their work easier. As such, you may miss out on prime properties available in your preferred location or settle for a less-than-ideal property by not working with one.
You Lose Out on Local Expertise
A local realtor is your best resource when making what is likely to be the biggest purchase of your life. They have deep insights into the locality and can help you pick the best neighborhood, school district, or any of your preferred choices.
If when a local realtor doesn’t have something within your budget range, preferred style, or neighborhood, they probably know someone who does. A quick phone call may be all it takes to get you the perfect property. You can easily close your dream home without wasting valuable hours on a fruitless online search.
You Need Expert Help
Working with a realtor can help you avoid many of the pitfalls likely to ruin your home-buying experience. They can handle complex tasks such as home appraisals and inspections to ensure you get the best value for money.
Better still, they can tap into their network and recommend a reliable mortgage lender or connect you with a trustworthy mortgage broker. Choosing the right mortgage plan is key to a successful homeowning journey. Your realtor can help you get it right from the get-go.
Need help buying your dream home? Contact us today for a smooth and seamless experience.
