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Reasons to Hire a Real Estate Agent

Blog by Mary Roy | August 12th, 2015

With a growing abundance of services being marketed to help homebuyers and sellers complete their own real estate transactions, this fairly recent movement towards "self-serve" real estate may have some questioning whether using a real estate agent is becoming a bygone era. While doing the work yourself can save you in commission rates charged by agents, for many, going through the process alone may not be the way to go–and could end up being more costly than a realtor’s commission in the long run. Buying or selling a home is a major financial (and emotional) undertaking, and there are many reasons why the assistance of a professional Realtor is important: 

Education and Experience

Negotiating can be tricky, and you don't need to know everything about buying and selling real estate if you hire a real estate professional who does. Your real estate agent, acting as your messenger, can convey your concerns to the seller's agent and may be in a better position to negotiate a discount without involving themselves in the emotional aspects associated with buying/selling a home. Often times, a seller doesn't and see the flaws that you do in their home, and having an agent to relay your message in a professional manner ensures that you pay market value for the home. An agent can help by speaking for you in tough transactions and smoothing things over to keep the transaction from getting too personal. 

Neighbourhood & Price Guidance

Agents either possess intimate knowledge, or they know where to find the industry buzz about your neighbourhood. This enables them to better determine the worth of your home not only today, but the return on investment you can potentially receive in the future, relieving the stress of you searching through the abundance of resources agents access to determine market value of a home.

Professional Networking

Your agent will have easy access to all other properties listed by other agents. Both the buyer's and seller's agent know what needs to be done to get a deal together. If you are looking to buy a home, a real estate agent will sort through the ones that meet your criteria, get in touch with sellers' agents, and make appointments for you to view the homes. If you are shopping for homes yourself, this can be a timely process, and could potentially result in someone else putting together a deal faster.

Handling Contracts

Today's real estate agreements often run 8 or more pages. If you decide to buy or sell a home, the offer to purchase contract is there to protect you and ensure you are able to back out of the deal if certain conditions aren't met. An experienced real estate agent deals with the same contracts and conditions on a regular basis, and is familiar with which conditions should be used, when they can safely be removed, and how to use the contract to protect you, whether you're buying or selling your home. 


Often times, the process of buying and selling a home isn't as simple as some may assume. It is a real estate agent's job to make sure that the experience is as pleasant and smooth as possible for you. If you get into a difficult situation, it pays off to hve a professional by your side.