Finding the Right Realtor

         When we first started looking for our house, we would just call up the #’s on for sale signs and get in touch with whatever realtor was listing the property. We visited homes with 2 or 3 different realtors before settling to work with just one of them.

Here are some of the reasons we chose the realtor that we did:

1. He was very knowledgeable of the area we were looking
2. He knew the names of all the apartment complexes and where they were located in that area
3. He knew average rents that tenants pay for certain types of properties
4. He was aware of new developments in the area that might affect tenant demand and rents
5. He was aware of other properties that recently sold in the area
6. He helped us realize all of the different expenses that we might incur from buying a property
7. He worked with us as first time home buyers to educate us on what we didn’t know
8. He was willing to work around our schedule when visiting homes
9. He was patient with our many questions
10. He was likeable and friendly

Other things we liked as we worked with him:

1. He used the electronic signing company DocuSign.com for all interactions with the seller. This made it super easy to sign documents from wherever, without having to print, sign, scan, and send paper documents.
2. He helped us get an extra $500 from the seller for a one year home warranty, and he helped us get the seller to pay all closing costs.

One thing we did not like:

1. We wished he would have been more aggressive with negotiating the price of the home. We were newbies in the real estate negotiating department, and the only home buying experience we had was from watching HGTV’s House Hunters. We felt like we should have come in a little lower with the initial offer, but he felt like we shouldn’t go so low. We naively listened to him, and the seller stuck to their guns with the asking price. Dumb! It was still an alright deal, but looking back we feel like we could have negotiated that better. In all reality, realtors have a conflict of interest when working with buyers. Realtors get paid more if the house sells for more, so we quickly learned that we will never let a realtor influence how we negotiate the price of a home. We will stick to our guns next time!