Getting the Best Service

There are many decisions to be made when purchasing a home. What comes first, buying the next home or selling your present home? What is your price range? What will be the location, size and style of your next home?

Before answering these questions, there is one major decision to make. Who will be your REALTOR ® to help guide you through this real estate transaction?

It is ideal to work with one REALTOR ®. It’s assumable to think a committee of agents can produce more results than working exclusively with one realtor. Unfortunately, this very ineffective approach could lead to many different ideas and decisions.

ONE REALTOR = COMMITMENT

All you need is one REALTOR ® whom you feel comfortable with and has the compassion and understanding of your situation. Buying and selling a home is a journey that must be carefully planned from start to finish. You should tell your REALTOR ® that you would work with them exclusively as long as you see the effort and work needed to get the job completed. In fact, as the Buyer, you should sign a Buyers Agency form with this agent to show your commitment. The agent should put in an escape clause for you, the Buyer, if they do not work actively for you. This way you will have a dedicated REALTOR ® who will make it their personal responsibility to handle all the details of your real estate transaction.

A REALTOR ® NEEDS CANDID FEEDBACK

A good agent will listen to your needs and search properties that are available through both their office and the Multiple Listing Service, then sort out all the inappropriate ones. There will likely be a number of homes for you to ponder over and express your feedback. This continues until you find the right home. Be very honest and candid about your feedback; point out your dislikes and likes of each property. Make notes immediately after each viewing on the corresponding feature sheet, as you may not remember what you do like or what you don’t like after viewing all the properties. It’s in your best interest to only view a maximum of 4 or 5 homes on one tour. It is easy to become confused when viewing too many homes at one time.

A Realtor is paid on a straight commission basis. They do not receive a salary or have an expense account. Realtors are only paid after something has sold and successfully closes. This is also why working with multiple Realtors is not a good idea. None of the Realtors will know if it will be to their financial benefits to spend any of their time and effort finding you a property when you could possibly buy through another REALTOR ®. By working exclusively with one REALTOR ®, you can rest assured that they are committed to successfully helping you purchase a home.