Five Reasons For A Need Of Real Estate Agent
The proliferation of services
that help home buyers and sellers complete their own real estate transactions is
relatively recent, and it may have you wondering whether using a real estate
agent is becoming a relic of a by gone era. While doing the work yourself can
save you the significant commission rates many real estate agents command, for
many, flying solo may not be the way to go–and could end up being more costly
than a realtor's commission in the long run. Buying or selling a home is a
major financial (and emotional) undertaking. Find out why you shouldn't discard
the notion of hiring an agent just yet.
1. Better Access/More Convenience
A real estate agent’s full-time job is to
act as a
liaison between buyers and sellers. This means
that he or she will have
easy access to all other
properties listed by other agents. Both the
buyer’s
and seller’s agent work full time as real
estate agents and they know what
needs to be
done to get a deal together. For example, if you
are looking to buy
a home, a real estate agent
will track down homes that meet your criteria,
get
in touch with sellers’ agents and make
appointments for you to view the homes.
If you
are buying on your own, you will have to play
this telephone tag
yourself. This may be
especially difficult if you’re shopping for homes
that
are for sale by owner.
Similarly, if you are looking to sell
your home
yourself, you will have to solicit calls from
interested parties,
answer questions and make
appointments. Keep in mind that potential
buyers are
likely to move on if you tend to be
busy or don’t respond quickly enough.
Alternatively, you may find yourself making an
appointment and rushing home,
only to find
that no one shows up.
2. Negotiating Is Tricky Business
Many people don’t like the idea of doing
a real
estate deal through an agent and feel that direct
negotiation between
buyers and sellers is more
transparent and allows the parties to better look
after their own best interests. This is probably
true–assuming that both the
buyer and seller in
a given transaction are reasonable people who
are able to
get along. Unfortunately, this isn’t
always an easy relationship.
What if you, as a buyer, like a home but
despise
its wood-paneled walls, shag carpet and lurid
orange kitchen? If you
are working with an
agent, you can express your contempt for the
current
owner’s decorating skills and rant
about how much it’ll cost you to upgrade the
home without insulting the owner. For all you
know, the owner’s late mother may
have
lovingly chosen the décor. Your real estate
agent can convey your concerns
to the sellers’
agent. Acting as a messenger, the agent may be
in a better
position to negotiate a discount
without ruffling the home owner’s feathers.
A real estate agent can also play the bad guy in a
transaction, preventing
the bad blood between a buyer and seller that can kill a deal. Keep in
mind
that a seller can reject a potential buyer’s
offer for any reason–including
just because
they hate his or her guts. An agent can help by
speaking for you
in tough transactions and
smoothing things over to keep them from getting
too
personal. This can put you in a better
position to get the house you want. The
same is
true for the seller, who can benefit from a hard-
nosed real estate
agent who will represent their
interests without turning off potential buyers
who want to niggle about the price.
3. Contracts Can Be Hard To Handle
If you decide to buy or sell a
home, the offer to
purchase contract is there to protect you and
ensure that
you are able to back out of the deal
if certain conditions aren't met. For
example, if
you plan to buy a home with a mortgage but
you fail to make
financing one of the conditions
of the sale–and you aren't approved for the
mortgage–you can lose your deposit on the
home and could even be sued by the
seller for
failing to fulfill your end of the contract.
An experienced real estate agent deals
with the
same contracts and conditions on a regular
basis, and is familiar with
which conditions
should be used, when they can safely be
removed and how to use
the contract to protect
you, whether you’re buying or selling your
home.
4. Real Estate Agents Can’t Lie
Well, OK, actually they can. But because
they
are licensed professionals there are more
repercussions if they do than
for a private
buyer or seller. If you are working with a
licensed real estate
agent under an agency
agreement, (i.e., a conventional, full-service
commission
agreement in which the agent
agrees to represent you), your agent will be
bound
by common law (in most states) to a
fiduciary relationship. In other words, the
agent is bound by license law to act in their
clients’ best interest (not his
or her own).
In addition, most realtor's rely on
referrals and repeat business to build the kind of clientèle base they’ll need
to survive in the business. This means that doing what’s best for their clients
should be as important to them as any individual sale.
Finally, if you do find that your agent
has
gotten away with lying to you, you will have
more avenues for recourse,
such as through
your agent’s broker, professional association
(such as the
National Association Of Realtor's)
or possibly even in court if you can prove
that
your agent has failed to uphold his fiduciary
duties. When a buyer and seller work together
directly, they can (and should) seek legal counsel, but because each is
expected to act in his or her best interest, there isn’t much you can do if you
find out later that you've been duped about multiple offers or the home’s
condition.
And having a lawyer on retainer any time you
want to talk about
potentially buying or selling
a house could cost far more than an agent’s
commissions by the time the transaction is complete.
5. Not Everyone Can Save Money
Many people eschew using a real estate
agent to
save money, but keep in mind that it is unlikely
that both the buyer
and seller will reap the
benefits of not having to pay commissions. For
example, if you are selling your home on your
own, you will price it based on
the sale prices of
other comparable properties in your area.
Many of these properties
will be sold with the
help of an agent. This means that the seller gets
the
keep the percentage of the home’s sale price
that might otherwise be paid to
the real estate
agent. However, buyers who are
looking to
purchase a home sold by owners may also
believe they can save some
money on the home
by not having an agent involved. They might
even expect it
and make an offer accordingly.
However, unless buyer and seller agree to split
the savings, they can’t both save the commission.
Contact : Aasha Realtors :
Office :- 022 - 2895 32 32 / 022 - 2894 87 47 / 022 -
28906363
Mobile :-Neeta- 9821411063
Skype Id :- neeta.shah30
Shop No. 2 & 10 , Shailesh Apartments, Borivali West, Mumbai
– 400103, India
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