I get many people calling off signs for my listings and asking questions. Many clients choose their Realtor based on whoever they spoke to first. This is not necessarily a good way to buy a home. You want someone working in your court, playing on your team. You need an excellent negotiator and someone who is tireless in finding you the right property. You need a Buyer’s Agent. Here are some great reasons to use a Buyer’s Agent.
1). Helping You With Financing
If you have a good lender you’ve been working with a good agent will sometimes ask you terms, but not get too involved. If you need help determining a good, low cost lender, a Buyer’s Agent can really help. Lenders will give Good Faith Estimates, sometimes with varying costs that they don’t control. For instance Lender A may show the inspections to cost $300, Lender B might show the inspections to cost $100. Lender A & B could have the same costs, but Lender B would appear to have lower costs. A good agent can help you decipher the estimate, sometimes saving you hundreds of dollars.
2). Identifying the best properties.
Calling off the signs is going to give you many, many properties that have already been under contract. You may be exploring neighborhoods, but not really getting good value. With gas at over $3 a gallon this can be frustrating and annoying.
Looking in real estate books? The homes listed may very well be sold. We determine which home to place in the Homes & Real Estate Magazine up to one month before it gets published. Great homes don’t last for long!
Looking on the internet? This is one of the best ways to find great homes, however, if you are outside the area you won’t know what areas the homes are in. This often leads to confusion when you see great looking homes at lower prices than homes that are in fix-up condition for more. In our area the closer the home is to the University, the higher the price and, sometimes, the worse the condition.
3). Deciding on the Best Home For You
When determining the best home for your needs a good exit plan should be made as well. As much as you would like to believe that you’ll be in your home a long time there is a good chance that you’ll be like most people in the area and move in 3-5 years. Looking specifically at resale value is VERY important in determining the right house for your needs. Will a good agent stop you from buying a home that you like? No, a well informed client is always free to make their own choices. I, as a Buyer’s Agent point out resale issues but always follow my clients directions.
4). Determining a Good Offer.
Once the right house has been found the real work starts. Pulling up comparables (homes like the one that you like that have sold recently) and determining the value of the house is next. Even with new builder homes it can be helpful to find out which builders will accept a lower offer on inventory than others. Most builders will say that they won’t accept a lower offer, the MLS sometimes tells us differently.
Sometimes just the structure of an offer can save you money. You might not offer the best price, but the rest of the terms are so good that the seller feels a sense of relief. The closing date fits their needs, the option period (time for you to get your inspections done and determine if the house is for you) is short and the offer comes with a pre-approval from a great lender. Many times you get a better price in these circumstances. A good Buyer’s Agent helps structure the offer to fit your needs and get the lowest price.
5). Negotiating the Repairs
Unless you end up buying a new home it is likely not to be in excellent condition. There will be things that come up on inspection reports that will need to be addressed. Determining which is important and which isn’t and and structuring the amendment to reflect the right issues is important. Helping you find a great inspector (or inspectors) and helping you figure out which inspections you need is the first step. Arranging those inspections for your convenience is the next step. Getting the amendment agreed upon by the end of the option period is one of the most stressful (for the agent) parts of the negotiations.
6). Ensuring a Great Closing
Many things happen behind the scenes once everything has been negotiated. The title commitment needs to be issued and reviewed, the survey must be accepted, or ordered, the walk through needs to be arranged, the lender must be kept up to date and checked on to determine dates for appraisals and coordinating closing. Everyone needs to be kept in the loop. A great Buyer’s Agent will keep everyone on the same page and, with the cooperation of all the other players, have the closing come off seamlessly.
7). A Great Agent Will Be There for You After Closing.
Need a house cleaner? Need two years from now to determine how much your house is worth so that you can refinance? A great Agent will be there to help.
8). The Best Thing About Buyer’s Agency? No Cost To You!
As a Buyer’s Agent we get paid at closing, at no cost to the Buyer. Once we have helped you find the right home, written and negotiated the contract, helped coordinate it all and closed we will get paid by the seller. We work hard for you because we want to stay in business for the long run. This one sale will not make or break a good agent. It’s repeat business that really does the trick.
Things You Need to Know About Buyer’s Agency
Agent’s aren’t paid by the brokerages. It’s not until a closing happens that we get paid, and it’s strictly on a commission basis. If you use an agent to look at homes and write an offer with another agent, the agent that wrote the offer will get paid.
Agent’s typically pay to be at their brokerages, expenses can be high and good agent’s must stay busy in order to keep their businesses successful.
Many times our schedules get booked up. Call early for an appointment. Don’t drive in without plans on meeting a great agent. At that point you’ll have the luck of the draw. Will the agent you’ve been communicating with be available? If not, will you get the newest agent on the roster?
The best thing to happen when you sell your home is determined when you buy it! Great planning and an awesome agent will balance the scales in your direction!
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