Finding the perfect home is one of the most important things a person or family will do.
When choosing a home, it's important to weigh in the options of renting vs buying, using a realtor, and all the financial topics needed for the transaction.
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Real Estate Agents
What Does a Real Estate Agent Do All Day Anyway?
What Do Real Estate Agents Do? Lots of people wonder what a real estate agent does all day. Do they sit around all day waiting for the phone to ring? Do they really do anything special for their buyer and seller clients? Is what you see on reality television an accurate picture of what a real estate agent does?
In the age of Zillow, Trulia, and For Sale By Owner, many people make the mistake of thinking that real estate agents are an unnecessary expense when buying or selling a home. But that assumption is highly inaccurate. Selling a home for sale by owner is not easy!
While online resources make it possible to handle some of the tasks involved in real estate transactions on your own, they are far from a replacement for a real estate professional.
Websites on car repair and medical care make it easier to take care of low-level tasks in their respective fields as well – but everyone knows they are no replacement for an experienced professional when your valuable car or even more valuable health is truly on the line. The same is true in real estate.
To get the best possible results in a real estate transaction – where hundreds of thousands of dollars are on the line, if not more – you need to work with an experienced agent. You should first understand there is a difference between a Real Estate agent, a Realtor, and a broker. These terms get used interchangeably all the time but have striking differences.
Picking the right agent to work with really depends on which side of the fence you are sitting on. Are you going to be buying a home or selling one? These are two different processes. Believe it or not, some agents are much better equipped to handle one side of the transaction than the other. Buyer’s agents have different skill sets than seller’s agents and vice versa.
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What Do Realtors Do Your Buyers?
1. Get you pre-approved for a loan.
An excellent real estate agent will have a big network of agents, lenders, and other professionals in the real estate industry that they can connect you with. Your agent should be able to connect you with a lender that can get you pre-approved for a mortgage – a necessity when you are shopping in a competitive market. Buyers need to understand there is a difference between being preapproved vs. prequalified.
2. Help you find the right home for your needs.
What Do Buyer's Agents Do For Their Clients? Hunting for a home is exhausting even when everything goes smoothly. An excellent REALTOR can help you narrow down your search to save you time and energy by asking you targeted questions to help you define precisely what you want. They can help you focus on the right location, neighborhood, school district, property type, and more.
3. Negotiate an offer.
When you find a home that you want, one that really excites you, it is time to make an offer. But what offer should you be putting forward? Making an offer too low isn’t smart because it will probably be ignored and potentially piss off the seller.
One the other hand, you don’t want to offer too much, though, because no one wants to spend more than they have to. You’ll need to hit the sweet spot – a number that an outstanding REALTOR is well-qualified to help you choose.
4. Finalize all loose ends for the closing.
There are a surprising number of details that need to be addressed to finalize a closing. You have enough on your plate as it is, which is why your real estate agent will be the one to ensure that all of these details are taken care of. Your agent will finalize all those loose ends so that you close without any issues.
For many years the “live or die by listings” saying applied. However, established dedicated buyer agents can do quite well these days.
The same brokerage and agent listing a home is seldom the one who will also work with a buyer. The MLS allows any other brokerage or agent to bring a buyer who makes an offer. So, an agent, though being allowed to work with both sides in a transaction, is usually only working with the seller or the buyer.
Why Rent To Own?
Both the buyer and the seller can benefit from this type of home sale. If the buyer expect to be in a better financial place in the next few years, this option can make sense. Rent to own is a way to buy or sell something over time, giving the buyer an “option” to purchase at some point in the future.
Poor Credit Scores Work!
If a user has poor or low credit and can not typically get a standard home loan, rent to own is also a good option.
Other Great Reasons for RTO
- Lock in the Purchase Price
- Test Drive the Home Before Committing
- Less Moves Compared to Short Term Rentals
- Build Equity
Sources: investopedia.com, realtor.com, Zillow.com