Do you have the time, experience, sources of information, and contacts to do the job yourself?  Would it go as smooth as it could?  Would it give you more personal time?  Would you obtain a higher price?  Here are just a few areas in which a professional real estate agent earns his or her commission:

Pricing Considerations
A professional's insight in determining a pricing strategy for your property can keep you from missing an opportunity by undervaluing or wasting time by overpricing. Experience evaluating competing properties and market trends is a first ingredient for the best transaction experience.

Marketing Expertise

• Preparation. Your agent is skilled in recommending repairs or cosmetic work that have proven to minimize time on market and maximize both prospect interest and sales price.
• Exposure to the public. Your agent will know best how to use flyers, open house days, and especially, mailing to and meeting with ex-clients and other qualified buyers. The National Association of REALTORS® studies show that 82% of real estate sales are the result not of advertising, but of agent contacts through previous clients, referrals, friends and family, and personal contacts, including...
• Exposure to other industry professionals. Your agent will utilize a Multiple Listing Service or other cooperative marketing networks. Once your property is listed, it is statistically likely the buyer will be the client of another agent associated with yours.
• Advertising: media and frequency. It takes experience to know what works in advertising. Ads generate phone calls to the real estate office but statistically have minimum effectiveness selling a specific property. Overexposure of property in any media may give a buyer the impression the property is distressed or the seller is desperate.

Security
Working with a real estate agent ensures showings will be supervised. You can instruct un-chaperoned buyers to call your agent for an appointment so they can be prescreened, you will be safe, and you can do your final polish before the showing.

Negotiating

• Middleperson. Most buyers prefer to negotiate with someone they perceive as unbiased, not emotional, and professionally trained. They are more likely to express objections to agents with the hope of resolution, when they otherwise might move on to another property rather that talking to you directly.
• Objectivity. Evaluate proposals privately without compromising your marketing position.

Monitoring, Renegotiating and Closing or Settling

• Overwhelming volume steps. The process of appraisals, inspections, and financing involves a lot of possible pitfalls. There are many required legal forms and processes.
• Experience reading and following escrow instructions. Instructions must be clear and complete. Your agent is the best person to objectively help you communicate these issues and move the transaction to closing (or settlement).
• Inspectors and other professionals. Your agent can meet specialists and negotiate regarding repairs needed to complete your contract. Industry contacts provide resources for work persons in many areas with knowledge as to their historical skill and reliability.

How to Choose Your Realtor
Choosing the right REALTOR to represent your interests is a very important step to ensuring your experience and real estate transaction will be a good one.  Here are 20 questions every consumer of real estate should ask a prospective REALTOR.  If the REALTORS you are interviewing fall short, can’t substantiate or hedge in anyway, you’re interviewing the wrong REALTOR!  Make sure the REALTORS can back up any and all statements.  Take a “show me” attitude!  Don’t be shy this could be the most important business decision of your life!

20 Questions To Ask Your Realtor

1. How long have you been selling real estate?
2. How many homes do you sell a year?
3. How many homes have you sold in your career?
4. What is your average time one the market versus the Multiple Listing Services (MLS)?
5. What is your average list to sell ratio, and how does that compare to the rest of the MLS?
6. Where do you in your office?  Top Lister?  Top Seller?  For how many years?
7. Where do you rank in your company…locally, internationally?  For how many years?
8. Where does your individual office rank in the MLS?  For how many years?
9. How strong is your name recognition in the market area?
10. Do you have a Guaranteed Sale Program?  Will you buy my home so that I will not risk losing the home I want to buy?
11. What percentage of your accepted contracts close?  What percentage falls apart?
12. What is your marketing plan?
    • Where and how often will you advertise our home?
    • Will you provide television advertising?  How much?
    • Would you provide us with professionally produced four-color brochures of our home?
    • Will you provide us with Internet advertising? How?
13. What lead generation system(s) do you have to develop an inventory of buyers for your listings?  Where are they?  Who manages them?
14. How many qualified buyers are you currently working with?  What is your follow up system?
15. How many full-time assistants do you have?  Do you have a listing coordinator, a closing coordinator, a team coordinator?
16. Do you have enough buyer leads to require a buyer’s agent or agents?
17. Do you provide us with written activity reports of the showings and prospective buyer and REALTORS comments?
18. Do you have a mission statement?
19. Will you give us your professional opinion on how to prepare our home for showings?
20. Do you have a list of references that we may call