When you are in the market to sell of buy a home, using a real estate agent can make a huge difference in the price of your transaction, and the stress you go through. If you don’t think buying or selling a home is stressful, you either have a lot of money, or you have never been through the process before. Either way, using a real estate agent is going to increase the probability you will come out of your experience on the greener side of the fence.
What Does A Real Estate Agent Do?
A real estate agent’s main purpose is to work as your fiduciary. A real estate agents fiduciary duty is a legal obligation to undertake or to act for and on behalf of another in a particular matter in circumstances which give rise to a relationship of trust and confidence. Which means, your real estate agent is hired to work on behalf of your best interests.
If you work with a buyers agent, that agent is going to negotiate on your behalf. If you work with a sellers agent, that agent is going to try and get the most money for your home possible. They will educate you on the process, keep you informed of the legalities, and are responsible for ensuring your best interests are taken care of.
Most people don’t realize what exactly a real estate agent does. I am going to explain to you what it actually takes to get a deal done. See, there is an urban legend out there that real estate agents just help you fill out a contract and collect a check when the home closes. Not true, at least in my eyes, and a great agent will do so much more.
Example, in January of this year, I helped a buyer find a home. This buyer was a first time home buyer, and was very eager to buy their first home. We went shopping, and they wanted to write an offer on a home they found. I did a little research before we wrote the offer, and we determined the home had structural defects.
Needless to say, we decided not to offer on the home. If my buyer would have been unrepresented, there’s a good chance she would have bought a home that was falling apart, and it would have cost her a lot of money to fix. Not to mention how hard it would have been to re-sell a defected property.
So, we found another home the couple liked, and we wrote the offer. My buyers wanted to write the offer at full price, they thought the home was worth it, and they just wanted to buy a home already. I did my research, and concluded we could get a better price on the home based on recent solds in that neighborhood. We came in low, went through the negotiating process, and we got the contract accepted for $13,000 less then asking price.
If my buyers hadn’t used an agent, and negotiated with the seller agent, they would have paid full price for that home. The sellers agent would have done a great job for their sellers, but my buyers would have been left paying too much. They used a real estate agent because they knew that an agent would educate them on market conditions, and make sure their best interests were looked after.
The next time you think about doing a real estate transaction, remember, a real estate agent is their to help you get the best price, and keep your stress level at a minimum. Good Luck!
