Why You Need & Want a Real Estate Agent

Why You Need & Want a Real Estate Agent.

Buying or selling a home is a process which requires knowledge of things that the everyday person may just not know. It takes a lot of time to find out information like the market, contracts to use, what happens at the title company, who orders the appraisal, the inspection, and numerous other things that pop up while buying or selling a home. Most people will not feel confident let alone have the energy and time to trip down this homeward bound path.

Do you really know your market?

Having lived in an area doesn’t always give you the actual real estate market knowledge. Even using Zillow will not give you the actual sales prices of homes. Zillow for most areas will only reliably know the sale price of a home from its sources, but rarely will it have the true sold price. Texas is a non-disclosure state; realtors or the MLS cannot tell Zillow what the home’s actual sold price. The best person to help you with a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) is a local real estate agent that belongs to the real estate board in your area. An agent knows the area, where homes are selling, and what areas are hot.

Can you get in the house without an Agent?

Selling your own home means you will need to be on call to show it. And as almost every real estate agent will tell you, if your home can’t be seen, it won’t sell. This means being willing to show any day of the week and pretty much any reasonable time of the day. You will be spending money on advertising in newspapers, websites and other venues that normally would be covered by the real estate agent.

If you are a buyer looking for a home without a real estate agent, your only access to finding out what is for sale is the newspaper, signs, word of mouth and websites. Unfortunately these are not always reliable resources. Even the big websites can be behind to the point you will find out a home you are interested in is already off the market. To be able to see the homes that are still available, you will have to call each homeowner or agent individually to set up an appointment. You will more than likely be escorted by the homeowner making it a little uncomfortable to peek in the closets as well as just taking your time to see the home.

The real estate agents has access to their local MLS which stays up to date on the status of the homes and sometimes a Centralized Showing to ease making appointments. Sellers who have listed a home with a realtor will feel more comfortable with buyers who are accompanied by a realtor.

Who is watching out for your best interest?

If you are a buyer seeing a home that is represented by a real estate agent, their fiduciary duty is to the Seller. They will not be able to share with you any information that is not in their client’s best interest. And FYI, if in Texas if you do not sign the Residential Buyers/Tenants Agreement before seeing homes with a realtor, the realtor’s fiduciary duty is with the Seller even though he/she does not represent the Seller.

Do you really know what you are doing?

Buying or selling a home is usually the biggest financial decision of your life. A real estate agent understands this better than anyone including the stress that goes along with the purchase. They can be the calm during your storm, the one with the rational ideas when things seem to being going totally wrong. The real estate agent is your advocate and there to help you through a successful negotiation while moving the process along as stress free as possible.

Do you know the right people?

If you are buying or selling you will need a number of professionals and service providers for the transaction. On the buyer’s side, you will need a lender and a home inspector at the very least. The seller might need a contractor, handymen and/or cleaners. Both sides will need a title company. Knowing the right people will help you through the transaction. A real estate agent has a pocketful of dependable people and other resources you might need.

Did you know it doesn’t cost you, the buyer?

Most buyers do not realize in our area (Texas) that it does not cost to have an agent help you find a home. The agent will be paid by the homeowner at closing. A Buyer’s agent is working for free until you find the home of your choice, make and offer and close on it. If you do not close, the agent will not be paid. Buyers sometime think that if they do not use an agent they will gain that in savings on the home, but most of the time a seller whose home you can get in to, wasn’t planning on paying a commission to start with or if they have one, the commission was already built in to the price and the listing agent will in all likely hood receive the entire commission.

Do you understand all those pieces of paper?

An agent has taken courses on how to fill out all the documents needed to sell or buy a home. And most agents have experienced counsel in their office as well. Agents are trained to help you with negotiating items on the contract that could cost you more if you do not understand as well as walking you through the process to close.

Do you know how to market your home?

In the selling of a home, the real estate agent can guide you through staging and pictures to present your home’s best face. In the end this could save you money by not being on the market for as long. Most agents have access to multiple levels of marketing so that your home literally will be seen all over the world and all this advertising is done at the real estate agents expense as a part of their cost of doing business. Selling your home in a short amount of time will save you house payments as well as stress.

So Call an Agent Today!

Why You Need & Want a Real Estate Agent