If you are thinking about buying a home, then I am sure you are already familiar with all of the online resources that are at your disposal. With the internet, searching for a home and finding a loan have become easy to do on your own. Because of that, many people make the assumption that they don't need a real estate agent. While it is certainly possible to purchase a home without an agent, here are 5 reasons that would be a bad idea.
1 - A Buyer's agent will negotiate on your behalf. The seller's agent will always have the seller's best interest in mind. So while the agent might be friendly, they are not on your side. Because a home is most likely the largest purchase you will ever make, it's important to have someone negotiating for you who knows the market and the industry and can get you the best deal.
2 - A real estate agent understands the contracts and paperwork. If you've never bought or sold a home before you might be amazed at how much paperwork is involved. You will constantly be having new forms sent to you for your signature and without an agent, you will be left on your own to read it and understand everything you are signing. An agent can help explain all the paperwork to you because that is what they do every day. Plus, if you want to make a counteroffer or submit an addendum asking the seller to make some repairs do you really want to trust the seller's agent to draw up those papers for you? I'm not suggesting they are unethical, but they have a fiduciary duty to the seller to act on their best interests not yours.
3 - They know people - During the process of buying a home, there will be inspections you will want to get. A general home inspection and a pest inspection for sure, possibly a roof inspection, A/C inspection and others. A good inspector can save you thousands of dollars in repair work or even save you from buying a money pit. Your agent will have contacts that they work with that they can recommend.
4 - They know other agents - Believe it or not, agents talk to each other. We actually get along and enjoy working together most of the time. Your dream home might not be on the market yet, but your agent might already know about it. It's not uncommon for homes to sell before they ever go on the market. Why? Because the seller's agent told the buyer's agent about a home that was coming soon and the buyer's agent told his clients who loved the home and made an offer that was accepted. All before the home hit the market!
5 - Your Time is Valuable - Finally, your time is valuable so let your agent handle searching for homes. Of course, the excitement of buying a new home probably means you will do your own searches, but even if you do, your agent can save you the headache of making the calls to set up times to visit the homes. You agent also has access to lockboxes, which means you don't have to spend your weekend running around to all the open homes. Instead your agent can show you the homes in the evenings, freeing up your weekends! (Another bonus of seeing the home on a weeknight instead of during the open house is you'll have more privacy, plus if you want to place an offer, you can get it in before the open house and sometimes even get it accepted before other offers come in.)
These are just a few of the benefits you will receive by hiring a great agent to represent you. So if you are ready to buy a home, give me a call and let's find your next home.
Bonus Tip - Many people will tell you that a hiring a Buyer's Agent is free. While that is technically true because the Buyer's Agent commission shows as a deduction from the seller, ultimately the buyer is the only one paying money. So instead of saying a Buyer's Agent is free, I prefer to say they won't cost you any more, or that you won't save any money by not using one. If your home is $600,000 it is highly unlikely you will get it for less simply because you don't have an agent on your side.
No comments:
Post a Comment