Hi everybody, your real estate expert, Lance Mohr.
And today, I want to talk about how to buy a house and more specifically, how to pick
a real estate agent to work with.
Okay, so now you're thinking about buying a house and you want to get a real estate
agent.
For most of you out there, this is going to be one of the first things you do; you're
going to choose a real estate agent.
And I can't tell you how vitally important this is.
Every year, the National Association of Realtors comes up with statistics, and almost every
single year they show that 75% of all homebuyers work with the first real estate agent they
meet.
And you know, there's a lot of great real estate agents out there but there's a lot
of bad real estate agents out there.
So your job is the buyer is to determine the best real estate agent is for you, because
this is most likely going to be the biggest financial decision of your life and you don't
want to just leave it to anybody.
So I want to give you a few tips.
Now, there's not just one single question or one single solution to find some great
real estate agent.
You have to do a little digging.
You have to do your homework.
Now, you might be going to open houses or going on to different website, talking to
different agents, and you really have to talk to them and see, is this someone that really
sounds like a professional, that acts like a professional, someone that returns phone
calls in a timely manner, do they know what they're talking about.
So a couple things you could do if you get their name, try going into Google and just
type their name in.
So maybe, whatever, Joe Smith and then whatever county you are in.
I'm in Tampa, so Tampa realtor, and see if their name comes up, see what they are on.
Look at their Facebook page.
Look at their website – the main thing is their website; do they have a professional
website, do they have an informative website or do they just have a cookie-cutter website
that they really put no effort into.
Go on their website and read a little bit about them; check them out, how long have
they been in the business, what do they like doing, what are their hobbies.
Just get a little bit more information about them, maybe they have reviews.
You could type their name in and put "reviews" next to it or hopefully they have some reviews
online or they have some reviews and testimonials on their website.
So really just see what type of person you are working with.
And at the end of the day, experience, I can't tell you how important that is.
Experience has a lot to do with it because when you get in a situation and it's not a
good situation, the last thing you want to do is be with a real estate agent that doesn't
know what the heck they are doing.
So you want to pick a real estate agent that has a lot of experience.
Now maybe they are newer in the business, but maybe they have different experience in
other areas; mortgages, maybe they were an investor.
Do they have a lot of experience?
The second thing is their negotiating ability.
I can't tell you how many agents, when I'm on the listing side, they just send the purchase
contract over.
They never call me and tell me it is coming over.
They never represent the buyer in presenting the purchase contract.
They don't have all their ducks in a row.
And they're really just putting their buyer at a disadvantage.
And I always think to myself, how can you do this?
You are working with the buyer, what would the buyer think if they knew you didn't even
contact the real estate agent on the other side and talk to them and try to get them
to take the offer that might be less than full price and why should they take the offer?
What are they doing?
Are they going after and negotiating like a pitbull or are they just lying over and
playing dead?
So you want to really do your homework, and at the end of the day, you just have to go
with your gut.
A lot of times people will say well, I have this real estate agent and I don't really
like them that much, but they're really nice.
I mean and that's good, it's nice to find a good agent, but you don't need a really
nice agent.
You need an agent that knows what the heck they are doing, that's going to represent
your best interest and negotiate like a pitbull for you.
So you do your due diligence.
And what I tell everybody to do, if you don't want to ask them over the telephone or you
don't want to ask them face-to-face, get their business card, email them, say hey I'm looking
at buying a home and maybe give them a little bit in what you are buying, what area and
ask them why should I work with you, why should I choose you as a real estate agent.
And in all honesty, I wish every single person, and I've worked with thousands of homebuyers
and home sellers, I really wish every single person ask me this question because I would
have loved to answer it.
There are some agents, maybe they won't like the answer, but you deserve it because you
don't want to wind up with someone who is not good and then you lose the home.
And then in some cases, you might not even know why you lost a home.
Start asking questions, get on their website, see what type of person they are and then
go with your gut.
Who should you work with?
The beauty about YouTube and the beauty about a lot of these videos that people do and other
realtors, they really give you some good insight to help you.
If you have any questions whatsoever, please send me a comment.
If you like my videos, please subscribe and give me a thumbs up.
I hope you have a wonderful day and I wish you the best of luck.