According to the 2016 Swanepoel Trends Report, 44 percent of generation X (ages 35-49) and 43 percent of young Boomers (ages 50-59) look online for houses as the first step to buying a home, and yet 93 percent of buyers in New England buy through an agent/broker. Surveys show that many homeowners and homebuyers are not aware of the true value a Realtor® provides during the course of a real estate transaction.

A list available on Learn page of the ECAR website is just a baseline, since the services may vary within each brokerage and each market. Many Realtors® routinely provide a wide variety of additional services that are as varied as the nature of each transaction.

By the same token, some transactions may not require some of these steps to be equally successful. However, most would agree that given the unexpected complications that can arise, it's far better to know about a step and make an intelligent, informed decision to skip it than to not know the possibility even existed.

The critical role of the Realtor® – 181 steps

The list contains 181 typical actions, research steps, procedures, processes and review stages in a successful residential real estate transaction that are normally provided by full service real estate brokerages in return for their sales commission. Depending on the transaction, some may take minutes, hours, or even days to complete, while some may not be needed.

More importantly, they reflect the level of skill, knowledge and attention to detail required in today's real estate transaction, underscoring the importance of having help and guidance from someone who fully understands the process – a Realtor®.

They are divided into the following categories:

[naviga:ul]

[naviga:li]Pre-Listing Activities[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Listing Appointment Presentation[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Once Property is Under Listing Agreement[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Entering Property in Multiple Listing Service Database[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Marketing The Listing[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]The Offer and Contract[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Home Inspection[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]The Appraisal[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Closing Preparations and Duties[/naviga:li]

[/naviga:ul]

Access the list directly at www.easternctrealtors.com/assets/files/extras/179StepsWebVersion.pdf.