Online shopping is on the rise and that goes for houses too! You can even get alerts that tell you when a house that matches your criteria comes on the market, but does that mean that you don’t need a Realtor? Not necessarily. A Realtor can save you time, money and head ache. Navigating the legal transaction of purchasing a home can be tricky and it helps to have an experienced, trained professional on your side.
You will be working closely with your Realtor in making what is likely, one of the biggest purchases of your life, so being comfortable and trusting them is going to be important. You can ask your family and friends who they have worked with in the past as a starting point. And because, as the buyer, you are not paying your Realtor, that’s the seller’s responsibility, you don’t have to concern yourself with comparing fees. A good Realtor is connected within their market and can make you aware of trends and may even know about properties that are about to be listed before they pop up as an alert on your home listings app!
Your Realtor will help you by not only helping you select a home that fits your needs but can assist in navigating the legal side of the purchase of property. He or she will work with you to create a purchase agreement and can assist in guiding you when it comes to asking for contingencies such as, an extended time frame for purchase, requests for leaving appliances, or improvements that need to be made to the home. Your Realtor will also assist you in understanding if the home is priced well, meaning, he or she will help in protecting you from paying for a home that is not truly worth it according to the market value. Of course, the appraiser has the final say on what the home is worth, but a Realtor can save you a lot of head ache up by doing a market analysis upfront.
If you are home shopping, don’t forget that having a prequalification letter will help you, not only understand how much home you can afford, but when it comes time to submit the purchase agreement the seller will take your offer more seriously. You can read more about the importance of a prequalification letter and other steps in the mortgage process here.
