No one will play a more important role in helping you find a home than your real estate agent. Your real estate agent’s job is to get you into your ideal home based on your preferences. You could go out on your own, but here are 6 things a real estate agent can help you with:
1. Help you find the ideal home
When you provide your realtor with the options you want in a home, they can scour a database of dozens (or even hundreds) of home looking for a home that matches what you want. Doing it on your own can take much longer.
2. Write an offer of purchase
When your real estate agent does find a home for you, their experience with putting in offers will be valuable to you as they find an offer that pleases the seller but doesn’t take too much out of your pocket.
3. Negotiate on your behalf to get the best possible deal
Experienced realtors know how to make a deal. They have superb skills in offers, counteroffers, and getting the best value for their clients. Unless you have a lot of experience bargaining on the price of large purchases, you might find it difficult negotiating on your own.
4. Provide information about the community
This is particularly useful if you’re buying a home in a new city or an unfamiliar neighbourhood. Real estate agents have an understanding of nearby schools, parks, amenities, and transportation, and they know what kind of neighbours you’re likely to have.
5. Arrange and coordinate the
A home inspection is crucial to making sure you get in a home what you want. Your realtor can arrange for a professional, reliable home inspector to take care of that.
6. Save you time, trouble, and money
Because your real estate agent has the skills and experience, they can save you time in finding a home, the trouble in negotiating, and money in what you end up paying for the home. These alone are excellent reasons to use a real estate agent when buying a new home.
When the time comes to select a realtor, don’t be afraid to ask questions, especially about any possible service charges. Vendors normally pay a commission to the agent, but some agents charge buyers a fee for their services. Find out beforehand.