Thursday, June 2, 2011

What is an EXPERIENCED Realtor and Why Should YOU work with one?

Why should you as a BUYER use an experienced realtor?

The key word is EXPERIENCED. The definition of experienced is: Having knowledge or skill in a particular field, esp. a profession or job, gained over a period of time.
Someone called me yesterday about looking at a home and when I asked if they were working with a realtor they responded, “Our brothers friend just got his real estate licenses a few months ago and we are going to use him.” I was thinking to myself..”A FEW MONTHS AGO”. A few months ago just isn’t enough EXPERIENCE for this market that we are in! It gets more and more challenging daily as an agent. If you don’t have experience under your belt than guess who suffers?? The buyer.
As a buyer you are risking the following by working with a realtor who isn’t experienced.
1. Losing the home
2. You could lose your earnest money
3. You may not be lead through the home buying process correctly so your journey will be very rough.
4. Issues may come up that your realtor can’t handle properly
5. If you are looking at foreclosures or HUDS you may miss your closing deadline and get stuck paying a ton of money in extension fees
6. If you are looking at foreclosures or HUDS you may move in and find out that there is an unexpected utility bill or HOA bill.
7. You could miss out on properties that our in your price range or that our available
These are just a few items that could happen if you use a realtor that isn’t experienced.
Here are a few questions to ask your realtor during the interview process to insure that the items above do not happen to you!
1. How many transaction have you successfully completed this year?
2. How many short sales, foreclosures, or HUDS have you completed?
3. Do you have a resume?
4. Do you have a list of recommendations and/or phone numbers of past clients that I can contact?
5. What is your cancellation percentage? (This is important to know so you can see if your realtor has a successful home buying process. The higher the cancellation percentage would mean that the agent isn’t successful at getting the deals closed.)
6. What is your turnaround time in helping a buyer find their dream home?
7. How many buyers do you work with at one time? (This is important so that you can see if they will have time to show you homes at the last minute if necessary. This is also important so that you can look on YOUR schedule and not the realtors schedule.)
8. Are you part time or full time?
9. Do you offer a performance guarantee?
10. Can I fire you if I am not 100% satisfied with your services?
11. How do you communicate with your buyers? (This is important because you want to make sure that the agent you are working with is flexible and communicates with you the way you want! Some buyers prefer text or emails over phone calls. )
12. What hours do you work? (This is important because some realtors do not work weekends or evenings. If you work an M-F, 8-5 job than how are they going to show you properties?)