Can my Real Estate Agent help or hurt me?
So you've decided to buy a home and you have a Real Estate Agent helping you. You've found the home you'd like to write an offer on. It's a fantastic deal and exactly the home you've dreamed of. It's time to write the offer and present it to the sellers and the sellers agent.
There are a couple of scenario's here that could come into play. The first is, what if you find that you're in competition? Yes, that's right, even in this current market - in competition. Great deals, houses priced really well and in good showing condition do still fetch multiple contracts! We have written on properties many times recently and found ourselves in competition. The most recently was yesterday.
Can your agent play a part in whether your offer is accepted over others or is it always price? As a very strong listing agent I can tell you with 100% certainty that it absolutely DOES make a difference.
The deciding factors are many. First and foremost is how well the offer package is put together. Is it neat, complete, clear and concise? I've received offers that have come all out of order, hand written, notes and changes scribbled all down the sides of the contract. Agents trying to change the legal boiler plate language to suit quirky situations and well beyond the scope of their legal knowledge and ability to write contract law. Lacking a lender letter or a very poor lender letter. Just all around lacking an organized feel and very disheveled. Does the offer include a cover letter highlighting the features of your offer? When there are multiple offers being able to clearly see the details and benefits of your offer are very important. Did you not include a Radon inspection in an area that typically tests high? If so, that should be highlighted. It's likely the other offers will have that included so you want it known and pointed out that you have omitted that.
Second scenario...Let's say that you're not in competition. Your offer still needs to be presented to the other side. In this current market we can write offers for less than asking prices, we can ask for seller concessions to help pay for our closing costs. The seller may have even been priced high and when the comparables were looked at, the actual value was much lower. How do you present these offers in the best light without offending the seller? Some people will say, "well, the worst that can happen is they say no and we make a counter offer, right"? Wrong. The worst that can happen is that you can offend the seller and they can refuse to work with you at all. Reject your offer outright. I've seen my sellers do this a number of times.
Your agent plays an enormous part. Their reputation in the area plays a part. Does your agent have a reputation of rubbing people the wrong way all the time? They may have a reputation of never doing their side of the transaction. Are they aggresive first always putting the other side on the defensive immediately? An experienced listing agent will pick up on these things right away.
I mentioned being in competition last night. We both had equal offers. They extended the counter to us first and never gave the others the option if we wanted it. The deciding factor in the listing agents words? It was us, the agents. His exact statement.."you guys bring a lot to the table here". We have worked with him on several other occassions. Our buyers were using our preferred lender and title company. Our offer was neat and complete. It demonstrated our knowledge of the market and our very qualified buyers, ability to buy. He knows we do our job, and we get to the settlement table.
Make sure you interview your agent. Ask about experience. Ask them how they submit your offer package. Test their knowledge of the market your shopping in. Don't take for granted that agents are all the same. We are not. It really makes a difference and can be the difference between you getting the dream home you want or not.