In tough times, most people are looking to cut costs any way they can. And in a home purchase, who wouldn’t want to save that extra 2 percent — an extra $3,000 per $100,000 of the sale price? That’s typically what buyer’s agents make on real estate transactions, and most experts think it’s money well spent. Check videos of buyers recommendations as shown below
It’s true that anyone can shop for a house, and even get a peek inside, without formally signing on with a real estate agent. But unless you have time to make home shopping a part-time job, an agent might be able to match you with the perfect property much faster.
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Say you want a swimming pool. Or don’t want a swimming pool. Or maybe you want a fenced-in yard for the dog or a basement playroom for the kids. If you’re looking for something specific, a real estate agent is the person whose job it is to know if there’s a house out there to fit your needs, and he or she will hold your hand through the deal to boot. Let’s look at some of the top benefits of using an agent to buy a home.
10: Ethical Consideration
Despite the fact that not all realtors are individuals from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the individuals who do join the gathering consent to keep a code of morals. That code basically specifies that Realtors manage all gatherings of an exchange sincerely.
Under the code, the Realtor is committed to put the customers’ advantages in front of his own. The individual in question is additionally needed to make total honesty about the issues with a property and be honest in promoting.
The code of morals has a few teeth; neighborhood sheets administered by the NAR authorize the arrangements. Punishments can incorporate a $5,000 fine, a one-year suspension from the affiliation or a three-year removal. How often this happens is hazy. Since neighborhood sheets handle authorization activities, no public insights on punishments against Realtors are accessible [source: National Association of Realtors].
9: Pricing Expertise
Your realtor ought to have a sharp eye for home estimating.
Most realtors can set a cost on a home the moment they stroll through the entryway. In the event that they have a great deal of involvement with a market, they realize how well a local holds its worth, as well.
While anybody can put in almost no time on the web and pull data on deals of practically identical houses, realtors have the experience to know whether a particular house is overrated or undervalued. In the most ideal situation, a specialist will have a particularly smart thought of what you’re searching for that she won’t burn through your time visiting houses that won’t work.
Not exclusively would agents be able to give all the information on nearby home deals that you need to see, yet they can likewise carry resources for the arrangement that come from long stretches of watching floods of exchanges in the area.
8: Requesting Repairs
Regularly, the touchiest piece of a land buy includes the sensitive dance of mentioning fixes. A realtor will have the option to distinguish inconvenience that you may not see, just as suggest a decent autonomous home overseer who will furnish a point by point report on issues with the house.
These reports can be many pages long. Inside every one of those pages, a few issues are significant and others aren’t. On the off chance that the house is in sensibly acceptable condition, demands for fixes can represent the deciding moment an arrangement. The specialist will have a decent feeling of what’s sensible to ask for and what’s unreasonable.
Much of the time, it relies upon you as the purchaser, as well. A specialist can peruse the circumstance and recommend what might work for you. “Every purchaser has an alternate capacity to bear what they need to do,” says Elizabeth Mendenhall, the 2011 VP of panels for the National Association of Realtors. “Some need [a house] to be in a superior condition.”
7: Finding Available Homes
A real estate agent will most likely know about unadvertised homes that you may have missed, broadening your search.
A real estate agent will most likely know about unadvertised homes that you may have missed, broadening your search.
Though most homes for sale are widely available for buyers to assess on Web sites, in some cases, sellers don’t want the fact that they’re selling to be widely publicized. In those cases, only the real estate agents know the houses are for sale.
“Sometimes people don’t want it advertised actively,” Mendenhall says. “Maybe it’s a more for personal reason, that they don’t want their neighbors or friends to know that their house is for sale.”
Sometimes health problems, financial problems or divorce factor into the need for privacy. Or sometimes, people don’t want the sale advertised during the holidays. Either way, working with a real estate agent gives you access to homes you might otherwise miss seeing.
6: Tackling the Paperwork
If you’ve ever bought a house, you’ve probably dedicated a full shelf somewhere to the documents that were involved in the transaction. These probably include the written offer, the written and signed counteroffer, the little details (like specific repairs) and what exactly was and was not included in the sale. The paperwork can be tiresome.
This is when a good real estate agent can save the day. Often, these offers and counteroffers are limited by a time frame. The agents are armed with fax machines that, in good economies, never stop churning out paper.
The odds of missing something, not initialing a margin or not checking a box, can drop substantially when you’re working with someone who knows the paperwork inside and out.
5: The “Purple Room” Phenomenon
Looking for something specific? A real estate agent just might know exactly where to find it.
Looking for something specific? A real estate agent just might know exactly where to find it.
Aside from the technical aspects of a sale and the mistakes people can make in the paperwork, real estate agents know neighborhoods and houses inside and out.
Mendenhall calls it the “purple room” phenomenon. If a buyer wants a house with a purple room, she says, the experienced real estate agent will know the house that’s for sale that has that room.
In a more general way, an agent will be aware of features that don’t show as well on the Internet. If a buyer is looking for a house with a space that could be used as an office, an attached mother-in-law unit or a room that’s perfect for showing off a prized grandfather clock, a human agent is more likely to find a match than a real estate Web site.
4: Unemotional Negotiation
As levelheaded as you think you are, when you’re fighting with a seller over adding a hose to the dishwasher because the water drains on the floor, it’s easy to lose your cool. Having an agent to write the requests objectively and forward them to the seller saves you the trouble of getting overly emotional about the deal.
Say the seller won’t budge on the dishwasher hose and you want to adjust your offer. The agent can handle that part calmly, too. Experts advise that you let the agent take the heat in difficult negotiations.
The best way to make a deal is to look for the positive part of every offer and counteroffer, and never let the other party see you make a sour face. Often, the most effective way to do that is to present the face that’s doing business — not your own.
3: Code Expertise
It’s important to know about your city’s codes when buying a home — your agent should be able to fill you in.
It’s important to know about your city’s codes when buying a home — your agent should be able to fill you in.
If you want to buy a charming little house near a business district and turn the front parlor into a candle store, you need to know if the city will allow it. Typically, an experienced real estate agent is familiar enough with local zoning ordinances to make sure you don’t buy the wrong house.
By the same token, if you want to build a fence in the backyard or add a bedroom, an agent should be able to make sure you’re buying a property where the city allows it. Also, some cities may require expensive upgrades on older properties when they sell. For example, if a house isn’t connected to the city’s sewer system, and a buyer will be required to spend tens of thousands of dollars to connect the property, the real estate agent will make sure that requirement is disclosed before the deal goes very far.
2: Thorough Record Keeping
Although real estate agents aren’t lawyers, they can serve as good resources years after a deal is closed. In some states, licensed agents are required to keep full files of all documents in all transactions for several years.
While you may (and should) keep files yourself, you can count on your agent to keep that information organized and safeguarded should trouble crop up with the property in years to come. You’ll also be able to contact your agent at any time in the coming years should you have questions about the property yourself.
1: Avoiding Closing Problems
When it comes to closing on your home, it’s nice to have someone there to ensure the process goes smoothly.
When it comes to closing on your home, it’s nice to have someone there to ensure the process goes smoothly.
When a sale nears closing, all kind of pitfalls can kill the deal in the final hours. A real estate agent knows to watch for trouble before it’s too late.
For example, the title of the house may not be clear — some long-lost relative might be listed on the title who hasn’t signed off on the sale. Or maybe the lender is causing a problem by not meeting the timeline on financing.
“When you’re getting close to the closing, you want to make sure there aren’t any unexpected title issues, that the financing has come through and that all of the professionals involved are staying on task and on timeline,” Mendenhall says. Real estate agents are used to dealing with these types of issues and can work through almost any challenge that arises.
For more information on buying a home, check out the links on the next page.