Selling a home–especially in a hot market like LA—may seem like a pretty straightforward and easy process. Decide on a price, stick a For Sale sign in the yard or maybe a listing on Zillow, and wait for the buyers to start calling… Right? Not so much.

There’s actually quite a lot that goes into selling a home, especially if you want to sell it for the maximum amount of money. From staging and photography to marketing and negotiations, listing agents have a lot of expertise that makes a BIG difference in the sale of a home.

Here are 5 reasons to use an agent when selling a home in LA.

Repairs, Staging & Photography

getting beautiful staging advice when using an agent

First and foremost, if you want to sell a home for maximum profit, you have to really help buyers see its maximum potential. A good real estate agent can walk you through your home to let you know where it needs a little work, which repairs or upgrades aren’t worth it, and how you can dress up your home without making any major changes.

Good agents are also often very skilled home stagers or even employ professional stagers on their teams—same with professional photographers.

Crucial Pricing Experience

Discussion with a real estate agent at the office

Many real estate agents will tell you that pricing a home is an art form. Price a home too low and you’re losing out on income. Price it too high and no matter how wonderful your home is, it’s not going to sell. But somewhere in between too low and too high lies the perfect price. And it takes the expertise of an experienced local agent to find it.

Marketing & Advertising

If you were to post a picture of your home to your Facebook account, how many potential home buyers in your area do you think it would reach? How about your email contacts; how many interested home buyers do you have in your contact list? And what’s your monthly budget for print mailers?

If your answer to these questions is “???”, then you're probably going to want to work with a real estate agent to get your home seen by potential home buyers. Real estate agents are pretty good at getting the word out across a pretty extensive buyer network via a variety of media.

Showing & Scheduling

real estate agent giving a tour of a home

When a buyer calls to set up a showing of your home at 8am, will you take that call? How about 10am? And 2pm? What about 10pm? And what’s your availability for actually showing your home...will you be able to postpone your work meeting to let a buyer into your house?

Working with an agent means not having always be available to take buyer calls and schedule showings.

Negotiations & Advice

Congrats! You got an offer on your home! The price looks pretty good so… you’re ready to sign, right? Not so fast! Did you read the fine print? What kind of contingencies are being offered? When’s the proposed closing date? How about the earnest money?

Negotiation is a HUGE part of real estate. To be sure that you’re getting the best possible deal, you’ve got to know how to negotiate. And there are a lot of people involved in the sale of a home, i.e. a lot of people you’ve got to negotiate with.

Just a few of the people you might encounter in negotiations:

The buyer
The buyer’s agent, who likely knows a thing or two about real estate
The home inspection company, because they will likely find issues
The buyer’s lender (in some cases)
The appraiser
The title company
Your town, if you need to pull permits

Just in the negotiations alone, having an agent on your side will pay off (financially and mentially, too).

The Bottom Line: Hire an Agent

Selling a home with an agent saves you time, availability, headache, stress, and money, too. Your house will be priced correctly, staged to impress, reaching hundreds if not thousands more potential buyers, and best of all, you won’t have to worry about any of it!

If you’re thinking of selling a home in the LA area, it’s time to contact Brad Korb Real Estate Group. We’re here to help you get your home ready, price it correctly, and list it with ease!