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Real
Estate Agents
If you are buying a home, hiring a real estate agent is a
must. You will need and appreciate someone on your side,
an advocate, to deal with the seller’s agent
and the paperwork that comes with the process. They can feed you
ads of homes that match your parameters, open doors for tours, inspection
and negotiate with the seller’s agent on your behalf. However
choosing a real estate agent can be a throw of the dice unless referred
by a reliable source. The good news for buyers is that the seller
usually pays the commission which both agents split. So
unless specified otherwise, buyers do not pay their agent. Buyers
can change their agent but that may require paper work if an agreement
is signed.
A real estate agent once informed me that his job was basically
to open doors and to conduct a general tour and
to stay neutral about the particulars of a house. That did not sound
right to us if the agent was supposedly looking out for our interest.
It dawned on me later that although he is working for us, he is
going to be paid by the seller and it is in his or her best interest
to stay neutral. Our agent did however stress the importance of
having a home inspected by a certified home inspector.
Deciding whether something is OK or not then becomes the job of
the home inspector and ultimately for the buyer to decide. That
can work if you are an expert in all things pertaining to a home.
The problem is that hiring a home inspector at that juncture may
be jumping ahead too far. Home inspection assumes you are buying
the house. It comes after an offer is made with the appropriate
earnest money placed in escrow. You will be paying
a non refundable fee for inspection. It is really the last step.
So the problem we found was how to make the right offer if we did
not know the true condition of the house. Sellers are required to
fill out a full disclosure form stating all known
facts good and the bad about the house. However, the seller may
not be aware of existing problems. Although it may not be helpful,
your agent should show you this disclosure before touring a house.
For us the answer was that we had to love the house. Anything less
and things can get slippery. Inspection was $250 non refundable,
were we prepared to pay that to confirm we did not want the house
after all? Also there is a chance that the seller may refuse to
refund the earnest money.
The agent does not care which house you buy as long as you buy one.
They normally work with multiple clients simultaneously and cannot
be expected to give you great advice on all the houses you tour.
Do your homework first and always remember that the bottom line
is caveat emptor (buyer beware).
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