Your Real Estate Agent's Job in a Nutshell

Your real estate agent is going to wear a lot of hats. There are dozens or hundreds of little details that need to get taken care of in the sales process. It would take too much time to list literally everything which comprises an agent’s job, so for the sake of brevity, here is your real estate agent’s job in a nutshell.

One of your agent’s first, and most important, jobs is to determine your home’s fair market value, both as it is and as it could be if it were properly prepared.

It’s also an agents job to get you, the home owner, to agree to list it at that price, within a couple of percentage points, higher or lower. Getting a seller to agree to a lower price than they were expecting is really a tough sell, but getting the property correctly priced from the get-go is really job 1, as doing so is very much in the seller’s best interest.

The next thing an agent needs to do is to help you get your home ready for sale. They need to guide you to economically do the most cost-effective things you can do to boost the sales price of your home so you can net the most money on the sale. This, too, is really important – a home which is properly prepared is going to get a much better reception, and fetch a higher price, than one which is just rushed to market without lifting a finger first.

Your agent will also spend considerable effort marketing your home. This includes putting it on the MLS, creating flyers, brochures, internet advertising, postcards to the neighborhood, newspaper or magazine advertising, open houses, arranging and/or conducting private showings, handling inquiries from buyers and agents – a full-blown marketing campaign requires a lot of resources, which is why it’s great to have an agent taking care of it all for you.

If correctly done, that price, preparation, and marketing should bring an offer – or better yet, several offers – before too long. It’s your agent’s job to milk whatever offer comes in to get get every last dime out of it possible and in to your pocket – on the most favorable terms for the seller. This is one thing that’s easier said than done, and it’s here where an agents experience can really make a difference in terms of your bottom line.

All the work that’s done – pricing, preparation, marketing, and negotiating – don’t mean a thing unless the property actually closes. It’s an agent’s job to keep the deal on track, to make sure that the buyer is performing as per the contract, that deadlines are being met, that the buyer’s lender is moving the ball down the field.

A typical contract lasts about 30 days, which seems like a lot of time – but there’s a lot that needs to get done in that time, and a lot that can go wrong, too. A skilled agent works diligently to keep the deal together, to keep the buyer to stick to the deal that’s been negotiated, and get the sale closed for you.

When you consider all that an agent does, it’s easier to understand the value that they bring to the table versus perhaps selling your home without an agent, or with a poorly chosen agent. Any one of these aspects of the job could be worth the cost of the commission alone. Put together, and done right, an agent’s value can easily exceed their cost. Truly, the right agent makes all the difference in the world.