How to Buy a House with a Real Estate Agent

The decision to buy a house is one of the biggest decisions you will make in your lifetime. When you buy a home, you’re making a huge financial investment that requires responsibility and commitment.

You want to take the proper steps to ensure your home buying experience goes smoothly. The first step is to work with an experienced real estate agent.

Understanding why you need a real estate agent is an important step in the process. This includes understanding the difference between a buyer’s agent and a seller’s agent.

You’ll want to know who pays the commission, how the real estate agent can help find homes, and how the agent can assist you when it comes to open houses. When it comes to placing an offer, a real estate agent can be an incredible help.

This is also true when it comes to negotiations. All these elements work together when you have a real estate agent help when buying a home.

There are many advantages to working with a real estate agent. Real estate agents have access to listings before they become available to the general public and can inform you of any homes not yet listed that meet your expectations.

Your agent can help when it comes to:

• Looking at comparable sales in the area.
• Providing property profiles that reflect sales history, demographics, property, and neighborhood data.
• Helping you prepare an offer that reflects positively on you as the buyer based on market trends.
• Reviewing documents, contracts, and explaining disclosures.
• Representing you during negotiations and the closing.

A buyer’s agent works specifically with home buyers and does not represent the seller. A seller’s agent will work primarily with the seller and not the buyer. There are some real estate agent’s who work with both.

Your real estate agent spends time showing you homes, preparing documents, doing market research, and assisting you through the negotiations and the closing. They do get paid for their time and effort in the way of a commission.

Typically, the seller pays the agent’s commission, and in most cases the commission is split between the seller’s agent and the buyer’s agent.

Providing your real estate agent with a wish list will help them target currently listed homes that meet your needs. They will use the listing service that is available to them to search for homes.

It’s a good idea to set a search account up that allows you to create specific searches. When new listings hit the market, you’ll receive an email alert. This can be helpful to you and the real estate agent.

An open house gives you a chance to tour the home with the intent to see if it meets your needs. You also have the perfect opportunity to ask questions.

 
Pass these questions along to your real estate agent. You want to let them interact with the seller or the seller’s agent on your behalf.

Your real estate agent understands the difference between a buyer’s market and a seller’s market. They have completed many transactions successfully and know other real estate agents in the area.

For this reason, your real estate agent is in the perfect position to negotiate on your behalf. Reasons for negotiations may include issues with home inspections and counteroffers from the seller.

• What is the average time it takes your buyers to find a home and close?
• In which neighborhoods do you primarily work?
• How do you conduct showings?
• How do you search for properties?
• What is the best way to communicate?

The best source of information about local communities and real estate topics is your real estate agent. Give Joshua Norber of the Norber Real Estate Group a call today at 248-785-3737 to learn more about the area, discuss selling your house, or tour available homes for sale.