Question To Ask Real Estate Agent When Buying A Home
Yet the majority of American home buyers spend only minutes checking out a house before buying it. A survey by the real estate site Zolo has found that 62% of recent home buyers in Canada spent less than an hour viewing a house before purchasing it; nearly a quarter of them just spent 30 minutes or less in the house before their home purchase.
question to ask real estate agent when buying a home
Buying or selling a house will have ramifications that last for years (or decades) to come. Hiring the right real estate agent who brings experience, professionalism, and expertise to the table can make a huge difference. According to our internal data at HomeLight, top agents help to sell your home for 26% more on average.
Your real estate agent can play a huge role in the length of time it takes to sell your home or find your next residence. You should be wary if your agent habitually works with clients for six months or longer.
As with any financial transaction, get a good understanding of how your agent is compensated before entering into a relationship with them. Most agents follow a real estate agent commission structure.
Here are six questions to ask your agent to flush out what he or she is truly thinking. These can help you figure out whether this piece of real estate is really right for you, and what your next steps should be.
So if you need recommendations for a home inspector, handyman, real estate attorney, or anyone else on your home-buying journey, your agent can answer your questions and make recommendations to boost the odds that it will be smooth sailing from here on in.
Some good questions to ask real estate agents should reference the current market conditions. Real estate agents should be able to specify some of the challenges you could be up against, and then they should have strategies that will help you succeed despite the market environment.
The real estate agent is the primary professional to have working on your behalf, but not the only one. They should also be able to connect you to the other people and organizations you will need along the journey. Some good questions to ask real estate agents include finding out who the agent recommends for the following services:
Two key components in the buyer/agent relationship are communication and availability. If you are working during the week and can only see properties on weeknights and weekends, you will want an agent who works those hours too. On the communication front, you should set expectations about how often you will need followup calls from your agent. Maybe you are just starting out and getting an email or text only when they find something is how you want to work. However, if you are in the thick of it, more communication is almost always better than not enough. Once offers and counter-offers start flying back and forth, you will want to know your agent can stay on top of it. Questions to ask real estate agents about setting communication expectations may include some of the following examples:
This could be a conversation about how you too can help get the word out about your house. Your real estate agent will appreciate ideas you can bring to the table, because we all know the power of word-of-mouth marketing.
Going over the numbers will remind you that pricing a home is a step-by-step process primarily driven by the economics of the marketplace. This is often the time when your realtor brings out the comparative market analysis (comps) book to show you what other similar properties are selling for in your neighborhood.
Your real estate agent should have a sense of who are eligible buyers for your home just by looking at it. Is it a starter home for a young family? Is it an established home in an older community? Is it a large home in a now-prestigious area of the city?
Real estate agents who represent buyers are commonly known as a buyers agent. Real estate agents who represent sellers are commonly known as a listing agent. Knowing how to interview a Realtor when selling a home is extremely important and it is no different than selecting a real estate agent to serve as your buyers agent.
A great buyers agent will have several contacts in the mortgage industry whom they can recommend to you. Just like all real estate agents are not created equally, all mortgage companies and consultants are not created equally. It can greatly improve the probability of a smooth real estate purchase when utilizing a great buyers agents recommendation, as they know how one another work and what quality of service is to be expected.
In addition to recommendations for mortgage lenders, another thing to consider asking a potential buyers agent is about different professionals they can recommend. When buying a home you will likely need an attorney, a home inspector, insurance carrier, and other professionals, in addition to the mortgage lender. Ask the potential buyers agent if they have a list of professionals they can provide to you.
There are some buyers who believe that real estate agents would prefer to only have to show a couple houses to their buyers before they purchase a home. This is true. In most cases, a great buyers agent will only have to show 5-10 houses to their clients.
Why is this? A great buyers agent will be able to identify their clients wants, needs, and preferences. Sometimes this is able to be done with a simple face-to-face meeting and sometimes after looking at a couple houses. A real estate agent who shows 25 houses to you without narrowing down and being able to identify what you are looking for is wasting not only their time but also yours.
Every buyers agent should be able to provide a handful of testimonials to you, period. As for contact information of past clients, this is not always possible. It still is a good question to ask a potential buyers agent though when interviewing! If you are able to obtain contact information of a past client of the buyers agent, make sure you do not waste the opportunity to pick up the phone or e-mail that person for their opinion of the potential agent.
Real estate agents love to share their knowledge and expertise. A real estate blog is a great venue to share their wealth of knowledge. Ask potential buyers agents if they have a blog or an example of article they have written. If they provide you a URL for their real estate blog, be sure to check it out. What types of articles have they written geared specifically towards buyers? Have they written articles giving advice for first time buyers? General home improvement articles?
A great buyers agent will have a system or questionnaire in place to determine what homes may match your wants and needs. You should expect a great buyers agent to ask about your price range, desired square footage, number of bedrooms, type of heating system, and other specific questions. This will allow them to determine what homes may be a great fit.
This is a critical question to ask a buyers agent. Do they send just the address of the potential home? Do they send information? You should expect a great buyers agent to send lots of detailed information and photos about the possible homes.
One of the biggest complaints that buyers have when it comes to their real estate agent, refers to communication. Whether it is lack of communication or the method, this is an important question to ask. If you prefer to have your buyers agent text message you, it is critical to find out if the potential buyers agent text messages or not. The same can be said for e-mailing as well.
Inspections are a very common contingency in contracts when buying a home. A great question to ask a potential buyers agent is whether or not they attend their inspections. There are some buyers agents who will attend and some who will not. Most top producing agents will agree that attending inspections is important, for many reasons.
Many real estate transactions do not make it past the inspection stage. This is for a variety of reasons. You should expect that in addition to recommending quality home inspectors, the agent should be able to present the inspection report and requests in a way the seller understands the validity of the requests.
Choosing the right home is exciting, but it can be a lot of work. Even with a great real estate agent and a solid understanding of the features you're looking for in a house, locating and reviewing homes takes time and energy.
Your real estate agent should be present at any property you view, so they can get a better understanding of what you like and dislike about the home. They can also answer many questions, as well as give you advice on whether the house is a good fit based on your wants and needs.
If you have a spouse or partner, they should attend a viewing. In some cases, you may decide to go alone to the first selections your real estate agent shows you, then narrow down the options to two or three strong possibilities. Though this seems like it would save time by eliminating homes that are an obvious no-go, seeing these poor fits can help spark important conversations with your partner about what you really want in a home. For that reason, it's ideal for both of you to look at every house.
It's important to choose homes to view that fit within your price range. Sometimes, a real estate agent may suggest you view a home that is outside of your budget but fits all your other requirements. However, if you don't have any flexibility on what you can afford, it can just lead to disappointment. Getting prequalified before looking at homes can help you narrow down your search to homes that fall within your budget.
If you have specific questions about buying a house in your area, find a real estate agent. You can find a great one using our Endorsed Local Providers (ELP) program. Our ELP team finds and connects you with the best-performing agents across the nation who actually care about your budget and understand your needs.
Open houses are a valuable tool for home buyers. You can view a property in a low-pressure environment, and you can usually take as much time as you need. One of the biggest perks is talking to the listing agent and going through your questions to ask at an open house. You can find out about the sellers and their motivations for moving, and get vital information about the property that might not be on the listing. 041b061a72