I think in a lot of cases realtors aren't the necessity they used to be, because of tools like Redfin. It used to be VERY hard (or near impossible?) to pull past sale data, comps, and various other bits of info on your own.
As a buyer, a realtor is rarely a bad choice because they likely won't cost you any money, as they usually negotiate out of he seller's fees. They help out a ton when it comes to bidding, what we could likely ask for, and the personal relationship they may have with the selling realtor. Need recommendations for an inspector or mortgage broker? They likely have some good contacts.
As a buyer, I'll probably always use a realtor, likely the last realtor I used- she was so smart and tactical that she probably would be successful in any career path she chose.
We moved from Seattle to Portland about a year ago, I grew up in Portland and didn't need any help figuring out where to live- I sure did need help in figuring out how to stand out when we were consistently one of multiple offers (one house had 13 offers three hours after the open house and closed for ~25% over asking). The inspector we used was recommended by our realtor and was so good/such a bulldog he even got the construction company to repair things they initially considered 'within spec' (we bought brand new).
Counter to that, my mom sold her house for $60K (about 15%) over what some realtor estimated she could, using only Redfin. She received 5 offers on day one.
If your mom's house was also in Portland, I'm not that surprised by the outcome for the same reason that a house closing at 25% over doesn't seem that extraordinary: Portland's housing market is bonkers.
As a buyer, a realtor is rarely a bad choice because they likely won't cost you any money, as they usually negotiate out of he seller's fees. They help out a ton when it comes to bidding, what we could likely ask for, and the personal relationship they may have with the selling realtor. Need recommendations for an inspector or mortgage broker? They likely have some good contacts.
As a buyer, I'll probably always use a realtor, likely the last realtor I used- she was so smart and tactical that she probably would be successful in any career path she chose.
We moved from Seattle to Portland about a year ago, I grew up in Portland and didn't need any help figuring out where to live- I sure did need help in figuring out how to stand out when we were consistently one of multiple offers (one house had 13 offers three hours after the open house and closed for ~25% over asking). The inspector we used was recommended by our realtor and was so good/such a bulldog he even got the construction company to repair things they initially considered 'within spec' (we bought brand new).
Counter to that, my mom sold her house for $60K (about 15%) over what some realtor estimated she could, using only Redfin. She received 5 offers on day one.