In today’s world where you can find almost any information about the real estate landscape online, you may wonder why you would need to hire a real estate agent. This question becomes even trickier if you’re a first time home seller since you may not be aware of many things and that’s exactly where a real estate agent can help. However, before you plan to hire a real estate agent, you need to answer a fundamental question: How do you want to do it? There are various factors that you need to consider. Such as, how fast you want to sell your home? How much hassle-free do you want to make entire process? Are you ready to pay your agent’s commission? However, if you plan to hire a real estate agent finally, here’re 3 advantages and disadvantages of engaging such a person, which you should understand to make a smooth and profitable deal.
Advantages

• Neighborhood knowledge: Real estate agents usually either have a solid grasp of the neighborhood or they know where to find the information they need. They can easily bring you information on educational institutes, demographics, crime rates etc.
• Market analysis: Real estate agents may disclose market conditions, which would help your selling process significantly. There are various factors that you’ve to consider to make a profitable deal. Information like cost per square foot of similar homes in your vicinity, average days on the market, median or average sales prices etc can all help you get your desired deal by pricing your home the right way.  
• Professional networking: Agents usually work in a diversified network of different professionals, most of whom provide services that you would need to sell your home. Sometimes, agents hesitate to recommend a certain company or individual over another. But they’ve the knowledge about the vendors who’ve reputation for competency, efficiency and competitive pricing. Thus, agents can provide you references of other professionals they’ve worked with to help you make an informed decision.

Disadvantages

• Lack of diligence: If your real estate agent is already quite busy with other clients, your home may not obtain the adequate attention which may lead to delay in the process or a less-profitable deal. You need to ensure that your agent is duly diligent in his/her work and remains so throughout the entire process. Otherwise, you may experience unwanted things like missed deadlines, failed deals etc.
• There’s a middleman to deal with: A real estate agent is simply a middleman between you and the buyer. So, apart from waiting for his/her messages or callbacks, you have to even trust that your agent shares your interests properly with the buyer. Simply put, if you want to work with your buyer directly, cutting out the agent part is quite appealing.
• Having to pay the commissions: When you hire an efficient and full-time real estate agent, you need to pay him/her a standard amount of commission which sometimes may bite your pocket a bit. So, prepare to pay your agent a certain pre-defined percentage of the entire sale price and not on the profit you make out of the deal.