These days, people are trying to cut costs wherever they can and that is generally a good thing. When it comes to selling your home, however, you need to think twice before attempting to do so without the services of a license, professional Realtor. Theres a reason that Real Estate agents are fully licensed and insured by the brokers that they work for and its because selling homes can be tricky and you need to have some knowledge and experience behind you. There are so many things that happen with even the most basic real estate transaction and so many things can and will go wrong if you dont have the knowledge and experience that is absolutely vital to have.
Think about the different aspects of a typical real estate transaction and what an agents function is and what their duties are and you will see that selling your own home is not the cakewalk that you were told it was going to be. Fist off you need to find out what your home is worth and that means either your agent knows the market so well that he or she can tell what that home will go for or you will need to pay for an appraisal. Then you need to advertise that the home is for sale and this can involve anything from ads in local papers and newsletters to online listings and banners, etc. You then have to be prepared for showing the house at Open House events that you will have to create, plan, advertise, and carry out yourself.
Even if you have a buyer all lined up, who is going to prepare the offers, counter offers, and the actual purchase contract? You need to know about contingencies and clauses that need to be inserted into standard contracts that will protect you from claims by the buyer. You need to fill out a long Disclosure Statement and it has to be an honest, no holds barred detailed description of the home or else you could get sued for omission. By the way, all Real Estate Brokers in California need to carry extensive Errors & Omission Insurance by the Department of Real Estate for this very same reason. You dont want some sue-happy buyer coming back to you in six months because you forgot to mention that the basement walls had minute cracks in them.
Which brings me to my next topic which is the home inspection itself. Normally a good Real Estate agent who knows his territory will also know of a reliable Home Inspector. In fact, a good agent will also recommend the services of an appraiser, a loan officer, moving companies, title companies, escrow, etc. That set of services alone makes it worth your while to forego the notion of selling your own home and seriously consider employing one of the very talented and reliable Realtors in your area.
This could be one of the biggest deals you ever make in your life. Do you really want to run the risk of messing it all up?