Ok, so you’ve got your basic financial plan for purchasing a home done, check. You’ve got a plan to pull together the monies for the down-payment and closing costs, check. You’ve got a pre-approval with a mortgage lender, check! What’s next? You’re going to need a realtor to go view houses! Now, you could go without one and schedule home viewings with the seller agent but you’ll probably have less flexibility in that scenario. And while their fees are not trivial, real estate agents do more than just open home doors for you.
First of all if you’re new to the area, you may need some guidance, especially if you’re moving to a larger metro area. Your realtor can give you a feel for the personality of each city and even down to the neighborhood. Where you live defines who is around you. And also where you live typically defines the price range so getting help here is important as a newcomer. Realtors typically focus on a city or two so take into account their regional strength and knowledge.
And if you’re a first time buyer there are plenty of decisions you will need to make. A good realtor will have a network of professionals behind them from attorneys, inspectors, photographers, videographers, mortgage brokers-bankers, appraisers, carpet-painting-repair people (for selling your home) along with a staff. Another consideration are the tools, online and elsewhere that they will use for the purchase and sale of your property. My current realtor uses dot.loop to officially sign contracts and coordinate paperwork and it’s pretty effective. During the time of COVID, minimizing face to face interactions should be minimized.
Most realtors are going to be either independent or aligned with a realty company that helps with tools and resources. You may feel more comfortable with a bigger realty name like RE/MAX, Coldwell Banker, Keller-Williams, EXP with the assumption that they will have better training and tools behind them, the choice is yours. One challenge with larger agencies is that they will also have new realtors on staff so if experience is important to you, take note. I decide to choose a very experienced realtor that does a LOT of business.
Also note that a high-volume realtor may have another client selling a home you might be interested in, where they represent both the buyer and seller (dual-agency). While there may be some conflict of interest in this scenario, it also may get you a home in a hot market you otherwise would not have known about. I had one scenario where a home I was stalking went on the market under contract and most likely it was a dual agency scenario. In competitive markets, homes are often being purchased sight unseen before they are even MLS listed (OMG)!
You can find a ton of realtor information online so do your research! Check out review websites like Zillow, Google or Yelp to see what the client feedback has been like. On Zillow, you’ll also get an idea of their buy-sell volume and how busy they are. Is this a career or a hobby for the realtor? How many years of experience do they have in the area? You’ll be able to see details of the real estate transactions they have brokered
And finally the personality and person. You will be spending plenty of time with your realtor, pre-COVID you would often travel from home to home during a purchase in the same car so hopefully you like them. Are they trusty-worthy and responsive? Because your home purchase or sale will be one of the largest financial transactions you make for most of us. While we all probably personally know several realtors as friends, do you want to do business with a friend and potentially risk that relationship? Tough call in my book, I prefer to keep my business and personal relationships separate.
In the end, definitely interview real estate agents to get a feel for them, who they are and how they can help. Until you lock into a purchase or sales contract with them, you’ll have to the option to continue shopping for agents. For my recent purchase and sale, once I started viewing properties, I was signed to a six month contract with my realtor to purchase through her. I’m guessing a realtor is unlikely to show you properties until you sign on the dotted line! Good luck because this whole process of purchasing and/or selling a home will not always be easy. The happy snapshot you have of a new homeowner with key in hand is the end-result of lots of tough decisions and stressful times. Choose your realtor wisely!
Next up in this home buying blog series is the HOME SEARCH! Most people consider this part of the process the most fun and yes it can be, but it can really depend on your local real estate market. More to come… 🙂
