Your real estate agent serves as an important resource when questions arise during your home search. Before deciding to work exclusively with an agent, interview several candidates and explain what you’re looking for in a home. You will heavily rely on your agent and should feel comfortable with the person you choose to represent you. Here are some tips to help successfully guide your search for a new home:
Best Neighborhood Tips
If you’re new to the area, a real estate agent can steer you toward neighborhoods and towns that work best for you. To help narrow your search, discuss what types of location you prefer. If you’re a city person looking for a walkable neighborhood, your agent can direct you to urban locations in your price range or suggest a suburban town with a thriving downtown area. If you have young children, ask for recommendations on areas with highly ranked school districts.
Affordable Home Tips
Before visiting homes for sale, you and your real estate agent should agree on an affordable price range. If you’re unsure about the total cost involved in a home purchase, agents can direct you to online mortgage calculators or other resources to help evaluate your budget. Armed with a comfortable price range and a list of your preferred home features, an agent can search for properties appealing to you.
Tips for Successfully Pricing a Bid
Local real estate agents make it a priority to stay up to date on comparable sales in their area. Once you find a home and consider making an offer, ask your agent to set an initial bid price. Your agent should research recent sales to support your bid, present an offer to the seller and lead negotiations until the deal is signed.
Assistance with Documents
Most home purchases require a fair amount of paperwork and agents expect buyers to have questions. Real estate agents understand the complexity of the home purchase process, so don’t be afraid to let them know if you don’t understand something. Additionally, if you’re purchasing a short sale or foreclosure, you may want to seek out a real estate agent who specializes in distressed properties to assist with the extra documentation often involved in those types of sales.
Tips on Completing a Successful and Efficient Closing
Real estate agents also guide you through the timeline from initial offer to settlement. After going through the home buying process countless times, an experienced agent will have a good feel each step of the process—from obtaining a mortgage to completing inspection. Also, agents can negotiate the issues that were identified in the home inspection with the seller.
Professional real estate agent tips provide home buyers with valuable insight. Ask for recommendations from friends and family who’ve recently bought a home. Take the time to meet with several possible candidates before selecting an agent to work for you.
Photo Credit: Morguefile
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