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You should feel well served by your realtor. If you want more guidance than he's giving, ask for more. If he can't give more... then maybe it's time to switch to someone who is a better fit.
Agents are all over the board, in what they know, and what they're good at. Find one who fits what you want.
Just getting back to my process post up there... If you're getting close to an offer, you should actually know by now if you will have an option period. No matter where you are, I'm certain that you will have at least a couple option contingencies where you can walk away for any reason... even if it isn't called an option period in all areas, buyers usually have many exit options, at least early in the contract.
For a lot of agents, THAT is the time to really put a lot of time into researching the property. Once you're under contract. That way you have the house locked up, you're not risking wasting a lot of time and energy, yours or the agent's, researching a place only to lose it to someone else before you can make a decision.
Hi, I'm Danbo from San Angelo and I am interested in purchasing the house listed at 4321 Baker Steet. You have it listed for $875,000, is it still actively for sale?
Yes, it is.
Ok, I’ll take it. I’ll pay $875,000 total in cash for the house, including all costs. Not a penny more.
Well let me see what I can do...
You’ll do $875,000 if you want to sell the house today. Call me back in an hour with a yes or no. If yes, I’ll come to your office and write you a check.
1) Sat down with you for a buyer consultation and explained the process from start to finish.
2) Pointed out any red flags or things of potential concern to ask a home inspector about when you walked through the home/neighborhood.
Things that should be happening now that you are considering an offer:
1) pull up the comparable sales and go through them with you. They should identify and tell you about any of the comps that they have personally been in to help clarifiy if the house you are considering is superior or inferior to that property.
2) Pull the CC&R's/by-laws for you to review
3) Pull any permits or hazard zone information
4) Depending on the age of the home, make recommendations for the type of inspections you would want to consider in your offer.
If you are in a place with a hot market, then you might have to move faster than you like with less information, but some states have option periods, most states offer time to review HOA documents, and everyone has a home inspection period. So you have time during the transaction to get informed if needed.
how fast are homes selling in these neighborhoods? If they're selling in a day, and you and agent have a fairly good idea of prices, that might be all you have time for. At some point, you need to have your expectations right.
If you've been with this Realtor for a reasonable amount of time (seen 10 houses? going back and forth with them for a month?) then at some point you shouldn't have to be convinced over and over.
All of this is part of the "talking yourself out" or also known as "paralysis by analysis". I would say - the conversation/question might happen between you and agent:
Do you want to find the right house, and get the best deal we can for that house? or Do you want to get the best deal, and make the house "good enough"?
the vast majority of folks are looking for a house. There are some looking for a deal. You and your agent should clearly understand which you are. Because the 2 (great house/great deal) lining up rarely happens.
and if it's a slower market, then sure, take time to look over comps and fine tune an offering price.
How do you handle it when *you know* the price is right and it's imperative to make an offer quickly, but the client doesn't seem ready to move forward with the offer?
I'd need to find out why they aren't ready. Not the right house?, financially not ready? Have they not seen enough houses in their price range to know it's a good deal? Location? Unless the buyer's reason can be found out, then there is no way to move forward on this home, or another. You can't push someone into making a home purchase. You might go under contract, but it will increase the likelyhood of it falling apart during the contract period. It's better to regroup, find out whether the buyer needs to see other houses (while understanding that if its a hot market they may lose out on this house), or sometimes take a break from looking and know that they can start the process over at a later date. One thing I've learned over the years is that there is always another house. Losing out on one, doesnt mean you won't find one you love later.
I'd ask my agent what they can tell me about the seller. Who is the seller and why is the seller selling, is the seller buying another house, if so, when, where, etc. What is the financial situation of the seller? What is the education level and real estate experience of the seller? Is it a divorce or estate sale? What is most important to the seller? A quick sale, maximum proceeds without regard to time to closing, etc. All of this information can be very valuable to you as the buyer and provides opportunity.
I'd ask my agent what they can tell me about the seller. Who is the seller and why is the seller selling, is the seller buying another house, if so, when, where, etc. What is the financial situation of the seller? What is the education level and real estate experience of the seller? Is it a divorce or estate sale? What is most important to the seller? A quick sale, maximum proceeds without regard to time to closing, etc. All of this information can be very valuable to you as the buyer and provides opportunity.
Yeah it doesn't hurt to ask, and some agents are definitely more chatty than others and will talk to a seller's realtor maybe a bit TOO much. When we made the offer on our current house, it was during an open house and the listing agent talked WAY too much about her seller's situation. We knew that the sellers had already bought a much more expensive, larger home and were super eager to sell this one. We knew what the husband's job was, we knew how long they had lived here, how many kids they had, why they were moving, etc.
You should feel well served by your realtor. If you want more guidance than he's giving, ask for more. If he can't give more... then maybe it's time to switch to someone who is a better fit.
Agents are all over the board, in what they know, and what they're good at. Find one who fits what you want.
Just getting back to my process post up there... If you're getting close to an offer, you should actually know by now if you will have an option period. No matter where you are, I'm certain that you will have at least a couple option contingencies where you can walk away for any reason... even if it isn't called an option period in all areas, buyers usually have many exit options, at least early in the contract.
For a lot of agents, THAT is the time to really put a lot of time into researching the property. Once you're under contract. That way you have the house locked up, you're not risking wasting a lot of time and energy, yours or the agent's, researching a place only to lose it to someone else before you can make a decision.
I'm going to have a conversation with him and go over the whole timeline, including finding out if there is an option period. Thank you.
One thing we learned: do not ask your agent if they think your offer is high enough or too low. They will always encourage you to increase it. They want to make certain the sale will happen and they want the bigger commission. Your agent does not know any better than you do what is a reasonable offer. You can only go by what the house is worth to you.
When we were selling our house someone made a low-ball offer. We told out agent to tell their agent No and nothing further. We were not interested in pursuing negotiations with that buyer. If he thought the house was that crappy, there was no point. there is no way his agent could have known a low-ball offer would be insulting to us. There was not way his agent could know that we were on the fence about whether we even wanted to sell the house at all. So his agent could not have helped him one way or the other.
What they can help you with is discussing what is normal. When we bought the house above mentioned, we asked the agent if it was normal to ask that certain furniture be included. She told us that was very abnormal and might offend the seller and kill the deal. She said it would probably be better to lower the offer in the amount we estimate the furniture was worth and just go buy similar furniture. We wanted that particular furniture because it went with he history of the historic home. We did it anyway and the seller agreed (at least to most of it. She refused to include a big orange arm chair because she told us "that is the only chair I have seen big enough to fit my daughter's fat ass, I need to keep it." Somehow that big orange char was no longer appealing to us anyway. Point is our agents advice was ignored and turned out to be wrong, so why ask? We probably ticked off our agent a little bit by asking her advice and then ignoring it.
1) Sat down with you for a buyer consultation and explained the process from start to finish.
2) Pointed out any red flags or things of potential concern to ask a home inspector about when you walked through the home/neighborhood.
Things that should be happening now that you are considering an offer:
1) pull up the comparable sales and go through them with you. They should identify and tell you about any of the comps that they have personally been in to help clarifiy if the house you are considering is superior or inferior to that property.
2) Pull the CC&R's/by-laws for you to review
3) Pull any permits or hazard zone information
4) Depending on the age of the home, make recommendations for the type of inspections you would want to consider in your offer.
If you are in a place with a hot market, then you might have to move faster than you like with less information, but some states have option periods, most states offer time to review HOA documents, and everyone has a home inspection period. So you have time during the transaction to get informed if needed.
"Any of the comps they have personally been in" What I am finding with this agent is that he might be doing some of these things but he's not sharing these things with us. I say this because last time we were considering a home he had shown up early and then casually mentioned he drove around and looked at some of the other houses (I remember thinking he had gone inside them) but he didn't say anything more. And see, until you say this now I didn't realize the value of him doing that (if he did indeed do it.) The thing is, is that if he doesn't share these things with us, we just don't know! And if he doesn't make the connection for us why it's important and share whatever knowledge he's gleamed then we just have no idea. Maybe he just wants us to let just trust him and let him do his job but we would be getting so much more out if and would feel so much more at ease if he was more communicative.
And yes, I am definitely ready to move faster than I'm comfortable with when the right house comes along. It seems that every time we have had our eye on a house it's either gone before we get to see it, or we find out hours late it's been sold, or went pending, etc.
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