Hiring a local Realtor® to assist you with your new home search ensures you are getting a true expert in the communities you are researching.
After all you read in the newspapers and hear on the news; if you’re a home buyer you are probably wondering how you can get the best house for the best deal in today’s market. So I want you to ask yourself, who is the best Realtor® for this challenging job? Isn’t your home one of your largest investments? In this tough market, I feel that hiring a local realtor, is one of the wisest financial moves you will ever pursue.
If you are a buyer, your buyer’s agent needs to be a true expert in the communities you are interested in purchasing. Your agent should be completely versed in the schools, school districts, boundary lines, commuting, type of water the homes use and so much more. For instance, school district boundaries can change from year to year and many listing realtors are relying on old school information when they list a house. This causes the home listing to have incorrect school spellings, the incorrect school within a district, or in extreme cases the wrong district altogether. This is happening more frequently today, especially with the influx of foreclosures and bank owned property on the market. In these instances, the seller’s bank hires the real estate agent and this agent may live and work hours from the property. Unfortunately, these agents may never have visited the property and are clueless of the school boundaries.
Unfortunately, these unintentional mistakes can, in turn, affect the buyer’s Realtor®. The buyer’s Realtor® who is not familiar with the area, while searching for prospective homes will either miss good homes in the search in a preferred school district or advise their client to purchase a home in the wrong school district. Even if the listing Realtor® has the right school district but spells the name of the school incorrectly, you may miss a home in your search.
Another important reason to hire a local Realtor® is that they are familiar with the nuances of the specific neighborhoods. One time a friend of mine moved in to a neighborhood and didn’t realize the maintenance involved to purify the well water. Her Realtor® wasn’t familiar with this and in turn didn’t inform her of the necessary upkeep. A local Realtor® would have been knowledgeable about these issues.
When you are negotiating on behalf of your client, it is always better to be the one who is more knowledgeable about the area. If you are representing the buyer and the seller won’t budge on the price, a local real estate agent will always have the advantage if he/she has seen the comparable houses and understand the reasoning behind the local pricing. This gives the local Realtor® the upper hand in negotiations and allows her to get you the absolute best value for your money.
And last, hiring a local Realtor® when purchasing a home in an unfamiliar area will give you access to the best homes before they even hit the market. Many times when I have a buyer in a specific price range and they can’t find a home that they are truly in love with, I go the extra step. I ask the realtors in my office, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, if anyone has a listing that they know that is coming on the market soon. If this networking proves unsuccessful, I take it one step further and ask my close friends and colleagues I trust in the other offices in town to see if they know of any listing that is going to meet the needs of my buyers. Although inventory is high, and you are probably laughing to yourself that a person can’t find a home in today’s market, many times the best homes do not even hit the market. It’s the local agents who know of these homes first.
Hiring a local real estate agent may be just one of many strategies to getting the most for your housing dollar, but it is the first step. By making that first step in the right direction, you are well on your way to making your relocation as easy and financially sound as possible.
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