A real estate agent is the professional appointed by a property owner to represent their interests when dealing with buyers. Real estate sales agents can — and should — only ever work for the homeowner.

Of course, agents need to tread carefully in their approach. It’s not in the homeowner’s best interest, for example, if the agent alienates buyers by being obstinate.

And as helpful as a real estate agent may want to be for the buyer, they ultimately should never lose sight of who they work for: the homeowner.  

The owner’s best interest is the agent’s best interest

At the end of the day, the homeowner’s best interests generally align with the agent’s, too. The best possible price in as little time as possible, is the best outcome for the agent just as it is the homeowner.

That’s the real estate agent’s value proposition in a nutshell. And it’s something DIY real estate services [What is a DIY Real Estate Service] have trouble replicating.

How much is your time worth?

The DIY model, even with options that give homeowners access to a licensed real estate agent to provide property valuations, guarantees that if your home is sold, you’ll save some thousands or possibly tens of thousands of dollars.

If your home doesn’t sell, well that’s your hard luck; hundreds of homeowners have used their DIY service successfully — it’s not them, it’s you. And you’ve already paid your fee, which can be as much as $7,000 for a well-known service like Purplebricks, so the service is happy; it’s just a shame you’re not. In this model, you’re the real estate agent and the homeowner.

Commissions tend to drive sales

The DIY model only works as hard as the homeowner who signed up for it. The DIY model of paying fees upfront is supposed to motivate the homeowner to work hard at selling their property as quickly as possible, and for the best price.

It’s the inverse of the traditional model, where the agent works hard to sell the homeowner’s property for the best price in the shortest period of time, so they get their commission. Failing to sell the property means the agent has wasted their time (which equals money); in the DIY model the homeowner has literally wasted both.

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