time liaison between sellers and buyers. An agent will have ready access to other properties listed by different agents. Buyers’ and sellers’ agents know how to negotiate a real estate deal. A real estate agent will track homes that meet your criteria, contact sellers’ agents, and secure appointments for viewing the homes. On their own, buyers often struggle with these issues. This is especially true when a buyer relocates or secures a new employment opportunity and fails to engage a buyer’s agent to handle the matter. NEGOTIATING IS HARDER ON YOUR OWN A real estate agent will keep the transaction “at arm’s length,” so personalities and emotions do not become involved. Price negotiations require special skills and understanding of the psychology of offering and counteroffering. Agents keep the transaction dispassionate and rational. For example, a buyer (you) might like a home but despise its wood- paneled walls, shag carpet, and lurid orange kitchen. When you work with an agent, you can express your opinions on the current owner’s decorating skills and complain about how much it will cost to upgrade the home without insulting the owner. Your agent will convey to the seller that you are very much interested in the property, but cannot afford to spend a certain amount on decorating costs, and thus can offer a lower amount.
CONTRACTUALLY SPEAKING…
There are many contracts and documents involved in purchasing a house. The stack is more than an inch thick. Unless you’re a real estate lawyer or title agent, these documents will be foreign to you. Yet, they require detailed and accurate completions. Buying a property is not necessarily a “fill-in-the- blanks” transaction. One mistake, let’s say in title work, could haunt the buyer well down the line after purchase. This very situation happened. A property that sat on a double lot was put on the market. The neighbor bought it to remove a bit of the second lot to expand his yard.
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