The Ultimate Guide to Home Buying

“Make sure everyone who works with you or for you,
feels the need to tell others about the incredible experience.”

-Chris Murray

4

Selecting a Real Estate Agent

We’ve touched on the importance of a real estate agent but in this chapter, we’re going to dig deeper into the subject and reveal how to find the right real estate agent for your needs. There are around 2 million active real estate agents in the United States but if you try and put them into a corner of either a buyer’s agent or a listing agent that’s not what you’ll discover. Experienced real estate agents will often over time tend to specialize in a particular property type, transaction or geographic area. Just as buyers and sellers are different and can share common needs but have different wants, so too will you find real estate agents varied in style and experience.

Real estate agents, like most mortgage loan officers, work on a commission basis. If an agent doesn’t sell a home, there is no income. The real estate industry can be a bit brutal but over time the quality agent will prevail. If an agent is in the business full time for an extended period of time, it’s because that agent is good at what he or she does. Otherwise, they’d have to find other income or only work part-time. Because you only buy or sell a home but a few times in your life it’s critically important you find the best agent you can for your requirements. As we’ve said, once you buy a home and you change your mind there is no customer service department where you can make a return along with a copy of your paid receipt.

Agent Criteria

Let’s face it, everyone knows a real estate agent. Your social circle, friends and relatives surely have an agent in there somewhere. And once it’s known you’re in the market to buy a home you’ll probably discover there are a whole lot more agents than you expected. Yet even though your cousin or your next-door neighbor’s mom is a real estate agent it’s not the time to choose an agent based on familiarity. This is a business transaction and it’s a big one. You want to find an agent that fits you, understands you and knows what you’re looking for. An agent is on your side and you need a combination of a sleuth, a negotiator and a fighter all in one.

You first want experience. Someone that has been in the business for several years has proven he or she is successful in the field. Simply the amount of competition alone weeds many agents back into part-time status. If someone has been around for years it’s because that person is very, very good. Not only do you want the experience, you want the full-time experience. You want an agent that constantly has their fingers on the pulse of the industry. Hot areas, promising areas and just a feel for the real estate market in general are something that can’t be learned from a book but from boots on the ground. If you find a full-time agent with at least five years in the business, that’s a promising start. But just don’t start out with one choice, find three.

Get your referrals for a good agent from family, friends and coworkers as well as doing your own research. Or services like Home Captain which screens and matches agents based on your needs through data points and past performance. Don’t just take an agent because there are lots of initials on a business card. From your list of potential agents, invite them to your home one by one. Don’t worry, if you forget to invite them over they’ll suggest that for you.

The agent will speak with you and get details regarding what you’re looking for. How long you expect to live in this next home, are good schools a priority and what about the commute to and from work will be just a small portion of the data you’ll be asked to provide. At this stage, you may not have any idea exactly where you want to live and the more information you provide the agent the better your search results will be. You’ve already scoured online listings, so you’ve got a pretty good idea but it’s now time to turn the reigns over to a professional agent.

Let’s now say you speak with three agents and they all seem pretty good and you’re comfortable so far with your pool of candidates. If their backgrounds are similar and they know what you’re looking for the deciding factor is probably personality. You’re going to be working very closely with this person for the next few months and you not only want to establish a solid level of trust, but you have to feel comfortable and can relate to the agent.

Prior to your interviews you should also do some background research regarding any ethical violations reported to the local Board of Realtors or the National Association of Realtors. You can check out how long they’ve been in business. Check out their online reviews and see what others are saying.

You can also log onto the agent’s personal website for more information but also look to see how many listings the agent has. Be careful because at first glance it might seem like the agent has hundreds of listings but in fact, the agent is more than likely promoting listings from other agents and not her own. Most real estate agents will have a “Featured Listings” or something similar that will point to the agent’s individual listings for sale. All real estate listings online or anywhere are required to have the listing agent’s name and broker information.

If you’ve got an experienced agent that understands your needs, you’re comfortable with that agent and there is a record of success, you’ve probably found your real estate agent.

Getting the Most from Your Agent

You’ve made your selection and you’re ready to go look at houses! But it’s only just begun. You want the best experience possible which also means you need to communicate with your agent regularly. Get set up on email, add the agent to your contact list and instant messaging. Regular communication will also reinforce trust as you embark on your home buying journey. If you have a question, don’t worry about interrupting your agent. If an agent’s phone doesn’t ring or there are no text messages in the agent’s queue, then something’s very wrong. In fact, most successful real estate agents put their own team together to better handle your needs.

Wheels will seem to start spinning once you begin looking at a series of houses so it’s important to exhale, take a moment and try and objectively look at all the properties your agent will show you. This is where implicit trust is required. You could absolutely fall in love with a home once you first arrive at the property. The lawn is immaculate, shade trees abound, and the white picket fence just finishes off maybe the best curb appeal in the neighborhood. But your agent will look at the property in a different way and there is where you get the most from your agent- the agent’s professional opinion. You’ve done your initial research online, but online listings only tell so much. Your agent can provide you with the information needed in order to make a decision, but you’ve got to trust that advice. You might like the house, but your agent will help keep your emotions in check. You’ll buy a house with your head as well as your heart but most importantly with your head. It’s easy to get caught up in the emotion of buying a home and as you walk up to your “This is it! This is my Dream Home!” property the agent is looking at it in a different way. Does this meet your criteria? Is this in your price range? You wanted an updated kitchen but this one is nowhere near that. The yard is too small based on what you originally wanted.

Getting the most from your agent means listening, communicating and trusting. And it works both ways, too.

What You Should Expect from an Agent

What should you expect from your agent? For starters, you should expect what your agent expects. Communication and trust. But on day-to-day operations, it might not seem as if there is a whole lot going on. You met with multiple agents and came down to a final pick and there was a lot of activity at first but now things may have slowed down a bit. Is your agent pulling back and not working as hard as you’d like? That’s highly unlikely. You can expect an agent to provide you with regular updates and potential listings and property visits, but the agent also has other clients. And that’s a good thing, remember? Lots of clients mean a solid reputation and hard work.

You should expect your real estate agent to be frank with you at all times. Agents work on commission and they don’t get paid if they don’t find you a home, but you want an agent to give you the bad news as well as the good. If you’re working with an agent who you feel is not working in your best interest, you have the right to drop that agent and work with another. Yet if you properly screened and selected your agent this probably won’t happen. If all you hear is good news from your agent and none of the bad, something’s not right. Rarely does a home search go perfectly. It takes some time and you’ll hit a few bumps in the road. Listen, trust and communicate.

For example, that house with the cute picket fence? Your agent tells you the property is way overvalued by at least $20,000 and that’s why the property has been sitting so long on the market. On top of that, the agent knows...