Seller Resources
For Sale by Owner
Thinking of Going it Alone?
If you sell the home yourself, you will get limited exposure by putting up a sign, running some ads, and telling your friends. On the other hand, if you work with a REALTOR® you will get instant and mass exposure to a large number of prospective home buyers.
A REALTOR® has access to the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®). This service, a computerized system operated by the local real estate board, compiles information about listed properties in the area and makes it accessible to member companies. As a result, when a REALTORS® lists your home, REALTORS® from other companies learn about your home and try to match it with buyers with whom they are working. These buyers may include people from out-of-town who are trying to relocate to your area.
A REALTOR® can speed the selling process in other ways:
- By specializing in real estate, a REALTOR® knows market values and can therefore help you set a competitive price for your home.
- A REALTOR® can free you from the hassles associated with showing your home and screen out people who are merely curious.
- A REALTOR® is objective when negotiating with buyers and experienced in reading the fine print of contracts.
- By staying on top of the mortgage market, a REALTOR® may know how to wade through financing tangles and clinch a sale.
Selling a home is not something that anyone can do in their off-hours. It's a specialized service, best handled by a professional REALTOR®.
Why the registered “®” after the word REALTOR®?
Only REALTORS®, who are members of the Canadian Real Estate Association and a local real estate board, can call themselves REALTORS®. Calgary Real Estate Board members adhere to a strict Code of Ethics and Standards of Business Practice, that non-board members and independent listing companies do not. REALTORS® take mandatory education every two years to ensure that they are knowledgeable in every aspect of the ever changing real estate industry.
