SEVEN THINGS TO EXPECT FROM A BUYER’S AGENT
Most prospective home-buyers think is the most important benefit of working with a buyer’s agent is their ability to find available homes. This is a major part of what a competent agent does; however, there are a number of equally important services they provide. These include explaining the contract and documents, determining a home’s value, negotiating the contract, providing advice and guidance, finding the best financing, and referring competent professionals.
Real estate brokers are allowed to provide advice and explain the terms of the standard documents. It’s important that your broker thoroughly explains each clause and how they could provide a benefit or create risk. This empowers you to make decisions on how best to structure your offer.
When you find a home you like, your agent should provide a comparative market analysis (CMA) report; it lists similar properties that have sold within the past six months. Since no two properties are the same, your agent should make dollar adjustments to each of the closed sales based on how the typical buyer would adjust the price based on the differences. As an example, if the home you would like to buy is 3 bedrooms, 1500 square feet, and built in 1980 and one of the comparable sales has 4 bedrooms, 1750 square feet and was built in 1998; the sales price of that home has to be adjusted downward, because it has one more bedroom, is larger, and newer compared to the home for sale.
With this information, your agent can provide you with the value range, the lowest figure representing a great deal for you and the high number a great deal for the Seller. You can then determine your target price and your agent can develop a negotiation strategy. As an example, if you find a home that you like, but only want to buy is you can get an exceptional price, your agent can be more aggressive in the negotiations; in these cases, your agent should inform you that there is a risk that you will be unable to come to terms with the seller and may lose the home to a competing buyer.
A competent agent will have a good understanding of the various financing options and refer you to the lenders who offer the best terms and have superior expertise in the options that best fit you requirements. They will also recognize issues relating to the property you’re buying that are outside their expertise and recommend the advice and guidance of other professionals, such as attorneys, tax experts, or contractors.
As you now know, your buyer’s agent does a lot more than find homes. If you or someone you know who is thinking about buying a home, get started early and interview more than one agent; then choose one that has the knowledge, experience, and competency to best represent your interests, which will result in getting the best home at the most advantageous terms. I’m available to meet with you, your friend, or relative to go over the home-buying process and financing options; please feel free to contact me at (970)903-7782 or [email protected] .
