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I need some help from some realtors as to best procedure.
We are going to Phoenix Az in about three weeks to buy a house. We have the cash and the commitment to do that.
My question is this: We were out there in the spring and found several areas with houses that were interesting, the problem is that some of these areas are50 miles or more apart. Do we get agents in each area? Does the agent take a big share of his/her day to drive across town when we see an interesting one. We can't waste too much time when we find the one , I have been told that the really good ones sell very quickly.
How would the agent prefer this be handled?
Thanks.
I need some help from some realtors as to best procedure.
We are going to Phoenix Az in about three weeks to buy a house. We have the cash and the commitment to do that.
My question is this: We were out there in the spring and found several areas with houses that were interesting, the problem is that some of these areas are50 miles or more apart. Do we get agents in each area? Does the agent take a big share of his/her day to drive across town when we see an interesting one. We can't waste too much time when we find the one , I have been told that the really good ones sell very quickly.
How would the agent prefer this be handled?
Thanks.
Some agents may cover that large of a territory and some may not. Agents that cover acreage properties as a specialty, easily cover this much territory.
If the 50 miles are all part one big uniform market and the properties are all kinda similar then you might find a local buyer's agent that is OK with all of the areas.
If the different properties are in distinct communities that each have a large enough semi-metro area to support local offices I think you might be better off using different buyer's agents in each of the separate areas.
Did you find these properties through regular listings or more of the "lands & homes" type stuff? It is a lot tougher to find buyer's agents that have experience in the more rural areas that won't also have quite a few in office listings that they would prefer to show vs some place a hour across the region...
In either case the first thing to do is to use the phone. You can generally get a sense for how enthusiastic an agent is within the first minute or so of talking to them.
I would check REMAX.com. Plug in your desired areas, and when you get a hit with an agent that lists your areas as their service areas, then you have a pretty good start. Do not, I repeat, do not use an agent that does not know and work in your selected areas. Just last night, I was chatting with another Realtor about how she bought a home six years ago before she became a Realtor and did not receive obvious information that any Realtor with integrity would have shared. Since she bought the house on the hill with the dead end street, her street has become a thoroughfare as two new developments behind her home have opened up with 300 more homes to go. She bought from a Realtor that didn't know the area.
I need some help from some realtors as to best procedure.
We are going to Phoenix Az in about three weeks to buy a house. We have the cash and the commitment to do that.
My question is this: We were out there in the spring and found several areas with houses that were interesting, the problem is that some of these areas are50 miles or more apart. Do we get agents in each area? Does the agent take a big share of his/her day to drive across town when we see an interesting one. We can't waste too much time when we find the one , I have been told that the really good ones sell very quickly.
How would the agent prefer this be handled?
Thanks.
First, I would call various agencies, both independent and franchises, and talk to Realtors. Are you looking in the same county? The reason I'm asking is that I had a relocation to where there was only one county that they wanted to buy in and were moving from a much lower cost of living area (this was when the market hadn't tanked) and wanted a comparable house. Anyway, they called a lot of agents who essentially turned them down, then got me and the husband explained he had a family and wanted everything in place for when he got the job. Since I was a parent myself, I understood his needs and we executed a buyer agency contract and I got moving. I literally searched the MLS for everything in their general price range/criteria from one end of the county to the other for what they were looking for and would send the listing sheets to them first to look over. Then when they'd say, "well these look interesting" so I'd go preview the house(s), take more pictures and email to them that night. The big challenge for them is they were coming from living on 11 acres, large solid brick home and wanted to keep price in same range - and did not want to have neighbors right on top of them.
I literally previewed houses from one end of the county to the other and, yes, compromise was required on their part (they had to up their 'ideal price range a bit' and settle for 1 acre instead of 11), but I did finally find them a large brick home, with enough room so they didn't have neighbors right on top of them and they were happy campers. So to your question, really depends on the agent and if you're looking at a lot of different counties or focusing on just county in particular.
My territory covers several counties just because of the nature of my business (and the fact that I've lived here long enough to watch most of the neighborhoods being built and know what was there before there were houses). 50 miles in a day is sometimes standard. You might be able to find an agent like that, or you might be able to find an agent in one area that you work really well with who can refer you to another agent in another part of the area that they don't handle.
You might want to read blogs of various agents in the areas that you're looking in and see if one or more of them "click" with you from reading what they have to say. That allows you to get to know them a bit better before initial contact.
My territory covers several counties just because of the nature of my business (and the fact that I've lived here long enough to watch most of the neighborhoods being built and know what was there before there were houses). 50 miles in a day is sometimes standard. You might be able to find an agent like that, or you might be able to find an agent in one area that you work really well with who can refer you to another agent in another part of the area that they don't handle.
You might want to read blogs of various agents in the areas that you're looking in and see if one or more of them "click" with you from reading what they have to say. That allows you to get to know them a bit better before initial contact.
Good post THL, as a lot comes down to how well the client/buyer clicks with an agent, as well as how long the agent has lived in the area in question. In my instance I knew that county like the back of my hand, it did encompass several different towns and cities, but the buyer didn't want to work with a lot of different agents; he only wanted to work with one agent who he felt 'connected with' and that he felt understood his needs.
Different strokes for different folks, ya know? But in my 'example', my client literally didn't want to work with anyone but me. Maybe because he had been turned down by others? Maybe because I was a parent and truly understood why he wanted everything in place before they made the final move? All I know is that he didn't want to work with with a lot of different agents and while yes I still had other clients, duh, I worked my a** off finding him and his family the perfect home. Time management, hard work and modern technology is a beautiful thing.
My main thought was that I don't want to waste the realtor's time. I know home construction pretty well, and relly don't need professional guidance in that area. If I could just do my own walk throughs and then call a realtor if I was seriously interested I would be happy. I really just need their help getting into the houses, and their expertise on everything from making an offer forward. As you all know, we buyers may love a house from the outside, and hate it once we are inside.
Would it be OK to use several different agents, and explain to them that I am going to use more than one agent, but that the agent who shows me the house would be the one I would buy from?
You can try, but the agents may decline to work with you in preference to giving their time to someone who will commit to them.
If you really don't want to use the same agent for the various areas, then you need to pick an agent with each area. I don't know about there, but here, we can designate on the buyer's rep agreement a specific area that the agreement is for, and the buyer can have another buyer's rep agreement with another agent for another area, as long as it's not the same area. You might look into doing that.
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