'SQFT' Real Estate App: Is it Wise for Homeowners?

[Corey Dutton]

As seen on Techcrunch.com, real estate apps like “SQFT” threaten the future of the seller’s agent in the real estate sale transaction. Or do they? I don’t think they do.

Having recently listed my own home in a very hot market, I was certain my home would sell quickly. I tried using an app, very similar to this “SQFT” app shown on Techcrunch, to list my home and save the seller’s agent commission. The phone started to ring, and showings began. But that was the first problem. Total chaos in my life due to calls, weeding out potential buyers, while also giving random showings of my home over the course of about a week. I was able to get no work done, so I essentially lost an entire week of work dealing with selling my home. Although these apps cut out the seller’s agent, the first problem with this is: how will you manage this process while still trying to work and raise a family? You won’t. This is the first benefit of hiring an agent to sell your home over using one of these apps like ‘SQFT.’ The agent manages the process for you, screening potential buyers, setting up scheduled showings, etc.

Another benefit of hiring an agent is the “sort of” important part about writing up the contract and managing the addendums that follow in the negotiations process. Huh? Addendums? How many people are actually qualified to manage the contract, not to mention the intense negotiations that can sometimes follow once a property is under contract? Only a licensed real estate agent is qualified to represent a seller on often, the largest transaction of one’s life. I can personally attest to the fact that I wouldn’t have been able to complete the sale of my home as quickly as I did, and with as little hassle as I did, without hiring an agent. I did hire an agent after all of the mess with the app, and my house was under contract within a matter of days and sold in a little over thirty days.

Before you jump ship on hiring a realtor and use one of those apps like ‘SQFT to sell your home, consider all of the complex factors involved in a real estate transaction. Are you prepared to quit your day job and your life for the time it will take to sell a property? Without a real estate agent representing you, that’s what’s in store for you.

Techcrunch article: http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/22/sqft-is-a-real-estate-app-to-help-homeowners-slash-broker-commissions/ )