« Toronto the ________ | Main | Why buyer agency is important »
Real Estate Agent Needed
At some point during the process of buying or selling real estate, you will need the services of a real estate agent. Selecting an agent can be confusing. Is there a way to determine who is most likely to succeed in helping you get your price and terms when selling, or finding the perfect house when buying?
Questions to Ask a Prospective Realtor.
- Do you work as a full time agent?
- How do you market your property?
- How do buyers contact you?
- Are you marketing real estate on the internet?
- In what ways will you encourage other real estate agents to sell my home?
- Do you have a system to provide feedback on showings?
- How many properties have you sold within the past 30 days? 90 days? 6 months?
- Do you have a list of references that I may check?
- Are you on the internet exposing my property to millions of buyers instantly?
- What is my property worth? What listing price do you recommend?
- How will you arrive at that price?
- How will you assist in my relocation plans?
- Are you affiliated with a mortgage lenders who can help facilitate the purchase?
- Will you offer 24 hour marketing on my property, for any prospective buyer who drives by?
- Do you guarantee my satisfaction by allowing me to exit the listing agreement at any time, if I am not happy?
- Do you have administrative support to see that no details are overlooked?
If the agent you are interviewing does not answer the above questions to your satisfaction, you should probably find another who does!
Setting the Price on your Home
The three major factors to consider in selling your home:
1 - Location
2 - Condition
3 - Price.
Location
Your home's location and setting influences its value. A home inside a quiet subdivision sells for more that the identical home on a busy street. Remote areas typically sell for less than close-in areas. Views, streams and trees usually enhance value. You obviously have no control over location.
Condition
New homes enjoy a marketing edge over resale homes because they are shiny and clean. Builders enhance their appeal by offering model homes (clean, bright, decorated in current colors and amenities) for buyers to examine. Homesellers should do the same
Pricing
If IBM stock is trading between 110 and 120, it does no good to insist on selling at 150. Likewise, your home must be priced within the appropriate range. You must actually "sell" your property twice: first to a buyer and then to an appraiser. The buyer is more subjective and compares the amenities of your home to those of other homes in the same price range. The appraiser is more objective and compares age, size, and cost-identifiable features in your home against other properties that have sold. Your agent must use his experience and expertise to fine-tune the price by taking into consideration all of these variables.
Prequalification
Most homebuyers go about the process completely backwards! That is they spend several weeks, months and sometimes years, looking at Real Estate ads, driving neighborhoods and attending open houses looking for the perfect home. Once they've found the house of their dreams, they place an offer to purchase it subject to obtaining financing. Then they shop for a loan. More often than not, it is above their means and they lose the sale because they can't finance it. Not only are they frustrated but so is the inexperienced agent who chauffeured them around for a year.
The savvy buyer of today shops the mortgage first and then knowing exactly how much they can afford, will then seek only properties that are within their reach. There are two methods of doing this. The standard way is to call or meet with a loan officer, tell them their financial and credit history, have the agent "run the ratios" and then tell the borrowers about how much they will qualify for. The flaws in this scenario are that the borrowers often forget to tell about their 5 late credit card payments, their new boat payment or push their income figures beyond reality.
The preferred method is to complete an application, provide income and employment records, have the loan officer run a credit report then actually submit the file for underwriting then receive an approval and commitment for a loan.
This is also a powerful negotiating tool when presenting an offer to purchase. I don't know of a single seller who would prefer to accept an offer from a buyer subject to obtaining financing over the buyer who already has a loan commitment! This can and will save you money when negotiating the contract. As the bear hunter said, you don't go out looking for a bear, find him then go and get your bullets! Get a mortgage commitment first, then find your dream house.
May 23, 2007 in Selling Toronto Real Estate | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c51e453ef00d83546cf2453ef
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Real Estate Agent Needed:
Comments
real estate agents are over paid people will little skills or education. Why pay someone so much money to sell something which sells itself? These people have to pass a course which takes two weeks to learn. I sold my home on my own without much trouble and saved so much $$$$$$$$$$. Agents have no value. IMO
Posted by: tony P | May 26, 2007 12:46:33 PM
real estate agents are over paid people will little skills or education. Why pay someone so much money to sell something which sells itself? These people have to pass a course which takes two weeks to learn. I sold my home on my own without much trouble and saved so much $$$$$$$$$$. Agents have no value.
Posted by: tony P | May 26, 2007 12:46:15 PM
Homeowners are sometimes worried about asking too many questions of an agent. Your advice is valuable because it shows that it's OK to be thorough. We've featured this post on our homepage. Kudos!
Melanie McLister
Editor, Canadian Mortgage Trends
http://www.CanadianMortgageTrends.com
Posted by: Melanie | May 23, 2007 4:48:47 PM
Those are good questions to ask an agent, but do you really need an agent?
William
http://www.bytheowner.com
Posted by: William | May 23, 2007 10:45:05 AM
Really good questions to ask a potential real estate agent. Often people just go with someone that is recommended than asking all the necessary questions.
Cave Spot
http://www.cavespot.com
Toronto Real Estate Forum
Posted by: Cave Spot | May 23, 2007 9:37:04 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
