Do you ride with the Realtor in the Realtor's car? (Tampa: rental car, for sale)

[Leaving4Ca]

Hello all, planning our next trip to Tampa to look at houses and neighborhoods.

How are things "done" there? Do the prospective buyers, people like us who are still looking at places/towns/neighborhoods, and what kind of house you can get ($225K - $275K) meet the realtor at the office, and drive with the realtor? Are we expected to find our own way to these houses with our trusty GPS, driving a rental car? or do we meet up with the realtor at the office and follow them?

How are most of you working with clients these days?

I am asking for a reason.. which I will divulge after I receive a few replies.

[kmarc]

"Do the prospective buyers, people like us who are still looking at places/towns/neighborhoods, and what kind of house you can get ($225K - $275K) meet the realtor at the office, and drive with the realtor? Are we expected to find our own way to these houses with our trusty GPS, driving a rental car? or do we meet up with the realtor at the office and follow them?"

It's been a while since I've been house-hunting for myself, but we always either drove with the realtor, or met them somewhere and followed them. But mainly we drove with them, at their suggestion.

Things may have changed these days, though.

[asimegusta]

We always meet the Realtor at the address of the home we will be visiting.

[gulfer]

Really it depends on how YOU THE BUYER would like to work it. For those that just want to look at home or two, it is not uncommon at all to meet at the first address at a set time.

I have driven people around most of the time. People that are not familiar with the area, not sure what area they are looking for, etc... I think feel better when they have a driver. Then you can look at the properties, talk about different things, get a good view of the areas you are considering, and not have to worry about keeping up.

There have been numerous threads on City Data here regarding best places to live, where would you live, I am thinking about moving here, etc... The only negative thing is that you can only post so much of what you are looking for. Until you get a feel and a comfort factor for where you want to live before making such a huge purchase, I recommend looking at many areas. A Realtor can only do so much to meet your wish list.

Again, I think it is completely up to you the Buyer on how you want to procede. But looking at your first post here, where you are still looking at areas, I would have your Realtor drive you around.

[stpeteguy]

I prefer to drive myself. Unless of course you enjoy being a captive audience.

[PhotoProIP]

Never drove with an RE. Don't plan on it in the future either. I like to have flexibility.

[Sunscape]

I think it all depends on how you and the broker get along. I have gone with the broker when we first came here, for we didn't know the area and it was easier for him to just drive us around.

But that is a personal choice.

[todd00]

If you are looking at multiple houses in one day, the advantage of following the realtor to the location would be your ability to talk about each property among yourselves in between showings. Otherwise ya just have to roll your eyes back and forth at each other. At least about some things.

There is actually an idiot realtor up north where I live that has a Corvette as his realtor car. I guess to show he can lease one, I don't know. Well guess that makes the choice easy for a couple, huh.

[druthb00]

We always met the realtor at the property, but we knew exactly what we were looking for and had our neighborhoods/areas narrowed down to the point where we literally only looked at 3 houses before buying. I agree that if you're unfamiliar with the area you'll be wanting to take a good look around lots of neighborhoods and it might be easier to do that if someone else is driving, especially if you have limited time to see the area.

We went out one day every weekend for probably over a month, just driving around. I found houses on the usual sites that were for sale in our prospective price range (we were still 3 months away from buying) and we went and drove through those neighborhoods, multiple times. It was a really good way to figure out what areas we liked best and if we would be happy with the type of house we could afford in that area.

I'm curious as to what information you'll be divulging lol. You have 8 kids in tow? 2 german shepherds? Both?

[rnedd]

All valid points especially what todd00 said about being able to discuss or ask and answer questions about places you've just been to.

Bottom line, it all depends on what you would prefer.

The only time I would say you'll have to ride with the Realtor is if you are going to a gated community and they only allow one car in for a real estate showing. That doesn't occur often but I had one just yesterday at Tarpon Cove condos and they do have that rule so it worked out best to have the clients in the car with me. It also save them a lot of gas since we went from there down to Sand Key and then back up to Tarpon Springs.