What to expect from a buyer's agent? (new agent, prices, properties)

[lexi12]

We are first time buyers, living in New England. We are under time pressure to find a house in the next month and we did say this to the agent that we are working with. I am wondering what is reasonable to expect from our agent, given that we obviously are not his only clients. So far, he set us up with MLS access and told us to drive by the houses that we liked to narrow it down to the properties we'd like to see, which we did. Is this how things work normally? What is the reasonable time interval for him to get back to us if we have questions, or to set up appointments? Any input is appreciated. We have no idea how fast things should move and obviously we would not want to lose out on a property because we didn't see it fast enough and didn't get a chance to put an offer on it. Thank you!

[FalconheadWest]

If you've driven by the properties and have narrowed your list, now is when YOU contact the agent to let him know you're ready to move forward. Yes, this is how it's done. Location should never be an objection after showing a house, which is why you should drive by the houses first to make sure you like the street, the houses on either side, and are good with the commute to work. You waste a lot of time if you go look at a house first and then decide if it's somewhere you like.

When you call the agent, you should then be prepared to offer 3 times you're available so he can have a better time fitting you into his schedule. Our schedules are a moving target so new appts are scheduled all the time. Sometimes I let clients know when I'm available, and they respond end of the day or the next day and then I have to tell them someone else booked that time. Time is of the essence, but the agent probably doesn't want you to feel rushed, so the ball is in your court to let him know you're ready for the next step.

[lexi12]

Thanks, Falcon! We did let him know the short list right after we were done driving by the houses and proposed some times to see them, only to take him 24 hours to get back to us that those times don't work and then he proposed to see the houses on a weekend (which would be 6 days after we emailed the list). This worries me because if we see houses only on the weekend, then we only have 4-5 opportunities to find something. I would have also liked to hear sooner than 24 hours that the times won't work so we can change schedules around and find other times, but maybe this is just my anxiety about finding something quickly, and maybe it's not realistic?

ETA: I always respond within 1-2 hours when our agent emails me. I don't feel rushed at all, just the opposite. I feel like I am waiting on our agent more than I should and I wonder if maybe he's too busy, or this is just the average timeframe of how things happen.

[MikePRU]

If I recall correctly, you're looking for a home in the Boston area. Honestly, the market in many towns is moving way too fast to operate in this manner. In the hottest Boston area towns, unless offers are being held until a particular deadline many properties are being sold in a matter of hours.

What I would suggest is to spend some time getting to know the towns you've zeroed in on. Our towns are not as expansive as what you'll find in other areas of the country so getting a feel for different neighborhoods isn't that hard. This is also where your agent should be contributing the local knowledge you hired them to provide.

If a listing pops up that looks promising based on what you know to that point, ask your agent for their thoughts. If the showings/offers are not being held then I would suggest seeing it ASAP. If showings/offers are being held then be aware of what the deadlines are that the agent/seller have setup so as not to miss out.

[lexi12]

Hi Mike, thank you for your answer. Yes, this is my feeling too, that the inventory is very low and houses are snatched up quickly. We are more than willing to act fast, but it seems that the rate-limiting step here is our agent. I didn't realize there might be deadlines set up by sellers/agents, I'll make sure to ask about that. There was nothing in the listing indicating that, so I assumed they all must be taking rolling offers.

[neguy99]

Amazing how different it is just down the road near Providence -- lots of property has been sitting for months and price cuts are the norm. Almost every new listing we've seen since we started house hunting in late Jan is still available. There are a few exceptions that went under contract quickly, mostly too-good-to-be-true prices by presumably desperate sellers, but in general it's a very slow market.

Of course, unemployment here is more like 10-11% and house prices are below what they were in 2005 so that makes sense. Impressive how steep that economic gradient is as you drive down what, 30 or 40 miles of I-95?

[lexi12]

neguy, maybe we should move to Providence! I saw an amazing house for 400K on newenglandmoves.com. The prices are so much lower, I didn't realize that. Hmm...

[neguy99]

lexi,

The trick is finding a job -- like I said, >10% unemployment in Prov area. Economic recovery really hasn't touched RI, hardly better job situation than 2009 here.

Also, if kids are a factor, RI schools are much worse than MA, even adjusting for income. I.e., a rich town in RI will have good schools compared to the rest of RI, but lousy compared to similarly wealthy towns in MA.

If you really want cheap, there are plenty of neighborhoods in Prov where you can get a house for well under 100,000! Which is good since you'll need to install bulletproof Kevlar over the whole thing.....

By many basic measures, Providence fits the profile of Buffalo or Toledo, or god forbid, Detroit, than Boston. It's definitely more Springfield or Worcester than it is Boston when it comes to economy and real estate, though PVD has a _lot_ more culture going on than they do.

[lexi12]

Yeah, I saw that the schools are not very well rated. I was joking about moving to RI (okay, maybe only 3/4 joking)... The job would not be a problem as I work on the south shore and the commute would not be bad at all. It's too bad that Providence doesn't have better schools and neighborhoods. It has so much to offer in terms or arts and culture. And cheap(er) real estate!

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by lexi12

Hi Mike, thank you for your answer. Yes, this is my feeling too, that the inventory is very low and houses are snatched up quickly. We are more than willing to act fast, but it seems that the rate-limiting step here is our agent. I didn't realize there might be deadlines set up by sellers/agents, I'll make sure to ask about that. There was nothing in the listing indicating that, so I assumed they all must be taking rolling offers.

Sometimes the agent will put the deadlines in MLS fields that are not viewable by the public (pretty dumb move in my opinion). In the most active markets, I'm seeing agents/sellers put a listing in MLS on Wed/Thurs and say "no showings until open house." The agent will then hold an open house either Sunday or Saturday & Sunday and then they setup a deadline for submission of offers. Sometimes the submission deadline is an hour after the open house ends on Sunday, but I've seen it set as late as the following Thursday. Some listings are still doing it the old way and are taking showings and offers as they come in. So, you have to know what you're dealing with and move with appropriate expediency.

If you feel like you're missing out on homes and your agent is the bottle neck in the process, then I would start by having a chat with them about it. If the agent is dismissive of your request or doesn't change their ways, then I would encourage you to find a new agent.

Originally Posted by lexi12

Yeah, I saw that the schools are not very well rated. I was joking about moving to RI (okay, maybe only 3/4 joking)... The job would not be a problem as I work on the south shore and the commute would not be bad at all. It's too bad that Providence doesn't have better schools and neighborhoods. It has so much to offer in terms or arts and culture. And cheap(er) real estate!

I lived in RI for about 1.5 years. Not my favorite 1.5 years of my life. It's quite surprising how close RI is to MA yet how different everything is there. I still remember waiting in the RI DMV for 6 hours to transfer my license.