With just the stroke of a few keys, you can find myriad resources on the Internet to help you in your search for a new home. Besides property listings, you can find out about specific communities, schools and mortgage options. Prudential Real Estate has made three great resources – Environmental Profile, Property Profile and Value Range Estimate – available on prudential.com/realestate that provide detailed real estate information just by keying in a U.S. property address.
With this wealth of information at your disposal, do you really need a real estate professional to represent you? Absolutely you do.
Think of it this way, when you go to an unfamiliar place, sure you could do a self-guided tour. However, your tour is much more rewarding and enriching when you have someone who is familiar with the location to guide you along because he or she has inside knowledge on the history, culture and stories that you may not have otherwise received.
The same can be said about a REALTOR®. Their role is more than someone to drive you around from property to property.
They can be a great resource, especially to homebuyers relocating from other communities. He or she knows the local area including home values, taxes, utility costs, and school data, and may even be knowledgeable about resources pertaining to your special interests or needs. For instance, should you require help relocating an aging parent with you, your real estate professional may be able to direct you to local services or organizations for the elderly.
A REALTOR® can familiarize you with the processes involved in buying a home, alert you to potential risks, help you determine how much house you can afford, explain alternative financing strategies, as well as provide tremendous moral support.
Another benefit is having a strong advocate during the negotiating process. A REALTOR® can help you objectively evaluate an offer then work to negotiate a favorable contract. During the process, he or she will review the contract and obligations before you sign, explain how contingencies and release clauses work, and so on.
And something easy to overlook is our familiarity with the complexity and risks inherent in the process. In the years I have been practicing I have been continually amazed at how quickly a seemingly simple transaction can grow legally complex and risky. When complex questions arise, a REALTOR® can help you quickly locate an attorney or other licensed professionals whose services you may require, such as home inspectors, engineers, surveyors and lenders.
As your single point of contact, a REALTOR® can manage the entire transaction including coordinating inspections, keeping in touch with the other real estate professionals, managing the documentation for the loan process, monitoring deadlines associated with contingencies, providing applicable paperwork, estimating closing costs, and helping prepare for a smooth and uneventful closing.
Finally, and I have saved the best for last, possibly the most compelling reason for using a REALTOR® as a buyer is that usually the marketing fee or commission is split between the listing brokerage company and the buyer’s agent. In other words, you as a buyer are getting all of this expertise and the listing brokerage company is splitting their fees to pay for it.
If you’re about to begin the process of buying or selling a home, consider involving a real estate professional. When the stakes are high, it’s comforting to have a specialist by your side.
This brings back some bad memories. When we got our house 5 years ago, we fell into the Customer Role. After all was said and done we wish we would have had an agent on our side. Granted, we got a good deal, but as soon as the paperwork was signed it was, “Please go away and stop bothering us” attitude.
Lesson learned.
That was because the selling or listing agent was paid by the seller. That was their client. As a “customer” it is hard to get the same level of loyalty. Now, in a perfect world you should. REALTOR ethics say that we should look out for the best interests of a client and customer if it is a disclosed open relationship, but how can you represent two parties and truly have all interests at heart? I believe it is best to always have someone in your corner, especially if the listing brokerage company is splitting the marketing fee paid by their seller for that expertise to benefit you through your own buyer’s agent.
Great post.
Agreed to you on all points but the last one is golden, favoring clients.
Thank you for your comments Brazil Property. I have seen too many times where buyers were tentative about using a real estate professional to purchase a home as if representation costs them something more. As I noted, usually the split of the marketing fees from the selling or listing brokerage covers the buyer’s agent as well. This is far better than unfortunately what happens too often where a buyer calls a listing agent just because their name is on a yard sign and they don’t consider,”who is representing me?”