If you're thinking about selling your home, the most important item on your agenda is to find a good Realtor®. All sellers aim to maximize their profit; most are also looking to pay a minimum amount of commission. Many consider hiring a discount broker, who offers "limited-service" listing agreements, instead of a full-service Realtor®. Discount brokers will list your home and perform minimum services for a discounted price. If you're looking to maximize your profit, do a little more investigating into how you can get your home sold with a full-service Realtor®.

Full-Service Realtors®

A full-service Realtor® won't cut corners on your service and will spend time with you at the initial listing appointment, be readily accessible throughout the process and be there to make sure your home closes successfully. Commission amounts aren't set in stone, as they are negotiable. You'll typically end up paying somewhere between 5% to 6% for a full-service Realtor.

Your Realtor will start by preparing a comparative marketing analysis for you. She/he will discuss the market, review their marketing plan and discuss pricing strategy. Once you hire her/him, they will typically perform the many of the following services for you:

* Help with staging advice.
* Take interior and exterior photos of your home for the marketing.
* Have exterior drone photos taken.
* Create a video and/or a virtual tour of your home.
* Have a "for sale" sign put up in your yard.
* Place a lockbox with a key inside on your front door for showings.
* Input your home's listing into the local multiple listing service (MLS.)
* Place your home on various real estate and social media websites.
* Do some direct marketing, such as mailing postcards or flyers.
* Start an Email Campaign.
* Placing print ads.
* Schedule an open house.

After the initial services are provided, your full-service Realtor® will share feedback on showings and progress towards selling your home. When you receive an offer, they will assist you in the negotiations. Once you have a signed sales contract, they will guide you through the buyer's inspection process by monitoring contingency dates such as the buyer's financing approval deadline. Your Realtor® will work closely with the buyer's real estate broker and other industry professionals involved in the transaction, such as the attorneys, the buyer's inspector, the buyer's lender, the appraiser, the escrow or title company personnel and more. They will continue to market your home all the way through closing and will do everything in her power to ensure a successful and smooth closing. Selling your home is serious business and, as the saying goes, "you get what you pay for." In a recent article on Upnest.com, it states that full-service real estate professionals can net 6% higher home values than rookie agents and 16% higher than sellers who sell their homes "for sale by owner." A discount broker is somewhere in between. They are typically a newer agent; however, you do get your listing put in the MLS.

Discount Brokers

With a discount broker you will receive fewer services. In fact many may only place a sign in your yard and your listing in the MLS. Be sure to get a clear list of all the services they will offer and be sure to ask how accessible they will be to you. For these folks, you'll pay less commission, usually somewhere between 3 1/2% to 4 1/2%. However, you may net less money. Home sellers may be left to represent themselves in the transaction.

Get Maximum Services and Pay Less

How about getting the best of both worlds? There is a way to hire a full-service Realtor® for a discounted price. Try an agent matching service such as Upnest.com. Here, top, local, full-service Realtors® compete against each other to get your listing. They try to earn your business by offering a more competitive commission rate. They also offer more services, or higher-level services, to get your listing.

If you're selling your home, trust the job to a full-service Realtor®. You'll make more money and worry less. Full-service Realtors® aim for higher home values for their clients.