Working hand-in-hand with your real estate agent and communicating with your agent is the easiest way to sell your home, and sell it quickly. The same goes if you are looking to buy.
Happy Real Estate Agents = Happy Home Buyers!
Sure, your real estate agent stands to make some fairly good money by selling your home, or helping you find a home to buy, but that doesn’t mean that your agent should be taken for granted. After all, an inspired agent is one that will think and act quickly and creatively for you – and who will negotiate fiercely and wisely, for your benefit.
Most real estate agents are super easy to get along with and are essentially “people persons”. But they are also only human. There are some things, however, that will get under your real estate agent’s collar, no matter how professional he or she tries to be. Your agent will be pulling their hair out and dread seeing your number on their phone if you do any of the following. Please don’t:
- Become a real estate expert, just because you’re connected to the Internet. Buyers can now go online and see all kinds of available homes, pictures and all. But online listings take a while to update, and many of them are no longer available. Don’t give you Realtor a list of 100 MLS numbers expecting to see most of the homes on your list. Many of them will be off the market already. Look online if you must, but put your faith in your Realtor and their ability to find homes in your price range with the features that you are looking for.
- Keep changing your mind about what you like. Your agent, if they are trained well, will be continually monitoring your wants and needs when looking for properties for you. But if what you want keeps changing, then the agent can’t really know what to look for on your behalf. Know what you want and communicate that to your agent.
- Make an unjustified lowball offer. Sure, it is okay if you offer the buyer less than they are asking. But be respectful and realistic. Your agent will be able to provide you with a comparative market analysis, so you will be able to judge if the asking price is too high. But there’s no reason for ridiculously low offers. They are hardly ever accepted, and they just waste your time, your agent’s time, and the buyer’s time.
- Negotiate the price without telling the agent. This sometimes happens during escrow, and it can be irritating to the agent to not be informed when you negotiate for a lower price.
- Request several additional showings, spend hours and hours looking at a property and then fail to make an offer. Your agent only gets paid if they sell a house, and they are fine with that. After a couple of showings, you should be either willing to make an offer or ready to cross the property off your short list.
- Waste the agent’s time. If you are not really serious about buying, keep in mind that your agent is a busy person who is working for a living. Don’t demand a lot of the agent’s time unless you are truly ready to become a homeowner.
Article provided by Allison Klein a Fort Collins CO real estate agent. If you want to learn more about Allison, you can visit her Windsor CO real estate website where you can search Loveland CO homes.
