Do You Actually Need a Real Estate Agent to Buy or Sell?
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May 23, 2025
Buying or selling a home is a major financial decision—so should you go it alone or work with a real estate agent? In this video, we’ll break down the pros and cons of both options to help you make the best choice for your situation. Some find success on their own, while others save time and stress by hiring an expert. Learn more and read the full blog here: https://real-estate-crunch.com/should-you-hire-a-real-estate-agent-or-buy-sell-on-your-own/ #RealEstateCrunch #RealEstate #HomeBuyingTips #HomeSellingTips #RealEstateAgent #ForSaleByOwner #FSBO #PropertyTips
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[Music]
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hi this is Anita from Real Estate Crunch
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When a lot of people are looking to sell
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their home some questions that they
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might ask themselves are should I hire a
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real estate agent or buy or sell a home
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on my own and I think you know whether
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you're looking to buy a home or to sell
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a home people begin to ask this Why
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because you know depending on the value
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of the home it can be very expensive to
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hire a real estate agent You know real
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estate agents this is my opinion on real
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estate
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agents is real estate agents are like
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anything else It depends upon who you
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get whether or not they are worth their
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money or not Of course if you get an
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agent who doesn't know what they're
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doing maybe they're not worth the money
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But if you get an agent who really
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understands what they're doing knows how
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to help you negotiate can point you in
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the right direction then that agent and
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their experience is worth the money and
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also worth you doing it Real estate
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agents generally fall into two you know
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type of categories You know there's uh
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buyers agents represent buyers and
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finding and purchasing a home and
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sellers agents or the listing agents
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help sellers market and sell their homes
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for the best possible price So you know
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most of the agents will either do this
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one or another And a lot of times if
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it's an agent has a lot of in-depth
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knowledge the you know the buying agent
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might know the selling agent might be
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able to get some insider information get
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some things to help on it That again is
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very valuable especially if it's a
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property or home that you want to buy
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Your agents temporarily work on
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commissions So they earning a commission
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on the home sale price incentivizes them
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to close deals you know So that could
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work in the advantage or disadvantage
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They could try to close a deal quickly
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but most good agents want to be able to
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close a deal because it's something that
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they you know they know they'll get the
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commission on it but they also want to
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make sure that you're happy because they
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realize that if you're happy you may
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recommend them in the
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future Here's some of the pros and cons
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of hiring a real estate
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agent First of all one of the pros is
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market knowledge and experience A good
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real estate agent as I said before
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should have good market knowledge and
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experience And that's why have a real
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estate license or don't have a license
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for all of America just for a specific
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state And most agents just work in
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specific areas Why because they need to
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have an indepth knowledge of the area
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they're working Agents too should have
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good negotiation skills Experienced
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agents know how to negotiate effectively
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And if you have an agent that doesn't
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like to negotiate they may not be the
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best agent for you especially if you're
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not a good negotiator They have access
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to listings The agents can access
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multiple listing services which includes
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up to date property listings and market
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data So buyers working with an agent
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often get earlier access to new
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properties before they hit the public
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listing They can help you handle the
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paperwork and all the legalities of um
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you know a property ownership You know
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buying or selling a home involves a lot
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of extensive paperwork including
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contracts disclosures and legal
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documents and a real estate agent can
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ensure everything is completely
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correct and you know on time and can
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reduce the risk of legal complications
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This right there is very important and
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this is one of the main jobs of real
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estate agents besides showing you homes
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and selling you the home is the fact too
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that the handling the paperwork can give
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you the marketing and the exposure if
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you're looking to sell They can help you
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handle the marketing strategies They can
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include online listings They can do open
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houses virtual tours and other you know
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media type of
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promotions They can save you time and
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and reduce uh stress You know selling or
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buying a home is timeconuming and
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complex and agents can handle logistics
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coordinate the showings and help you
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manage
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communications Some of the reasons why
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people um the cons of having a real
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estate agent of course number one is the
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fee is the commission fee They you know
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it can be costly and you know they pay a
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commission around five to six% of the
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home sale price which is split between
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the buyer and seller's agent So you know
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it can add up if you have a very
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expensive home That can add up Less
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control Some buyers and sellers prefer
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to have complete control over the
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process You know where you may not have
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so much control if you have an agent
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Depending upon your agent you can have a
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risk of an inexperienced or if you're
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trying to sell an unmotivated agent and
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so your home can sit on the market for a
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long time which can make it you know
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harder with the value of the home And so
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um you know or you could have someone
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who just doesn't really know what
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they're doing They're inexperienced If
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you decide you're going to do it
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yourself you know of course you save on
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the commission cost You'll have full
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control over the process You'll have
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direct communication with any of the
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buyers and you can do your own marketing
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But at the same time you're gonna have
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very limited market exposure You're
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gonna have pricing challenges It could
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be hard to understand exactly what the
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price should be The negotiation might be
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more difficult You could have you know
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unless you know the paperwork it can be
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very complex paperwork and this can be
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an extremely time consuming process in
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dealing with real estate in asking which
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option is best for you For most people
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that are looking to buy property or home
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is to hire a good agent and you can
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check out the agent make sure the
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agent's right for you Don't be afraid to
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fire an agent if the agent's not right
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for you But you know really check out
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and make sure that you have the right
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agent that can help you If you're
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someone who's very experienced in real
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estate hiring an agent may not be right
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for you You may find instead that you
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want to go at it on your own We've
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written a blog post on this entitled
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should you hire a real estate agent or
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buy and sell on your own We'll put a
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link to the description below so you can
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read more about this and some of the
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ideas of things that you can look for
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when you are looking to either buy or
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sell a property either on your own or
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with an agent This is Anita with Real
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Estate Crunch Thank you so much for
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listening We hope that you'll subscribe
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join with us and be part of our
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community as we look at all things to do
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with real estate Thank you so much
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[Music]
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