Frequently Asked Questions
Real Estate FAQ
For all my clients, I strive to make the real estate transaction process as carefree as possible. Afterall, there’s already a lot of money on the line and it doesn’t help that the real estate transaction process can feel excessively complicated from various state laws and lending requirements.
This is why a key part of my role as your Buyer or Sellers agent is to eliminate any anxiety that my clients might feel due to a sense of being lost in the woods, especially if they’ve never experienced the process before. I’m an educator, and I work hard to ensure that you’re well informed of what to expect when buying or selling a home so that understanding what’s ahead of you isn’t as scary. That teaching begins even before we start working together.
Here are some answers to very common questions that new buyers or sellers might have about real estate. When you’re ready to know more, give me a call!
Questions About Agents:
Questions About Home Buying
Questions About Real Estate Agents
What is a Real Estate Agent?
A Real Estate agent is a licensed professional for people who wish to buy or sell a property such as a home, commercial office, or land - all of which are known as “real” property.
The Real Estate Agent represents the best interests of their client(s) whenever any agreement to buy or sell a property is made. They facilitate the deal between by negotiating contracts on behalf of their client, managing time-sensitive steps of the transaction, and by educating their clients on the many, often tricky, nuances of transacting real estate. A knowledgeable and experienced agent will also provide their clients with information about local areas, trends in real estate markets, and is often networked with other industry professionals to help provide a variety of services at critical times during a transaction.
What is a REALTOR®?
It’s common to hear the terms real estate agent and REALTOR® used interchangeably. Is there a difference? The answer is Yes and No. Not all real estate agents are REALTORS®. However, all REALTORS® are real estate agents. The title of REALTOR® is specifically a designation for someone who is also a member of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR).
Real estate agents, like myself, who bear the designation of REALTOR® are bound by a strict Code of Ethics, which is a condition of continued membership with the NAR. It’s essentially a set of ideals and standards of quality that one must follow to be a part of the association. The NAR also bestows certifications in specialized fields, such as my Pricing Strategy Advisor certification. They also provide ongoing education for their real estate agents to ensure their agents remain knowledgeable about the industry and that their skills remain sharp.
Why should I have a Real Estate agent?
There are a LOT of reasons but for the sake of brevity, I’ll only cover a few high-level highlights.
For starters, as a Buyer’s Agent, real estate agents are authorized to schedule showings and gain access to homes for private tours of properties that you’re interested in buying. No waiting or looking for “open houses”.
For both Buyer’s and Seller’s agents, a real estate agent will also negotiate with the other party on your behalf. With so much money on the line, both parties are trying to strike the best deal and it’s easy for emotions to rise and create hazards for making a deal. By having agents negotiate on behalf of their clients, this helps to eliminate any elevated emotions from the discussion and allows opportunity for both parties to find equitable compromise to make a deal go through.
And finally, buying and selling a home is STRESSFUL!! Not only are there hundreds of laws and regulations that govern contracts, lending, and real estate transactions, but as I just mentioned, there is also large sums of money on the table. It’s the perfect recipe for making very bad decisions and ruining the deal. This is NOT the time for DYI or to try and feel your way through the dark. Having a knowledgeable, experienced real estate agent at your side is essential for any real estate transaction since any misstep could result in heavy financial losses and also land you in hot water and penalties for unknowingly breaking the law.
This is why I’ll guide you through the entire process from start to finish, and all the while I’ll be watching out for your interests - both financially and for peace of mind.
What’s the cost for a Real Estate Agent?
Are you getting ready to buy a home? Well, guess what? You pay NOTHING for my services.
There is absolutely zero cost to you to hire me as your Buyer’s Agent when you want to buy a property. My commissions are paid entirely by the seller when you close on the deal.
And if you hire me as your Seller’s Agent, my pricing is competitive and the value you receive is going to include a lot of services that you won’t get from everyone else. There are absolutely no upfront costs to you. I don’t get paid unless you do, and so I’ll be working hard to get you the best deal for your property.
So, either way, it’s a no-brainer. There is absolutely no cost to giving me a call. So, give me a call, today, and let’s discuss some more.
How do I begin?
This one is easy. You simply need to reach out. Once you connect with me, I’ll set up a meeting to understand how I can help your realty needs, and then I’ll guide you into the next steps from there. We can meet over the phone, in the office, or even over coffee. It’ll be as easy as talking to a friend. You can leave your credit card and checkbook at home; they won’t be needed.
Are there any contracts or commitments?
When you invite me to be your Agent, you’ll be asked to review and sign what’s called an “Exclusive Right” to Buy or Sell real estate, which is a very standard contract used by all real estate agents. As mentioned above, an Agent’s wage isn’t earned until you close on a deal, so depending on the real estate services you need, this can be as quick as a single week or as long as several months before an Agent earns any income. The work performed by any real estate agent is in good faith that they can be at your side when the deal comes to a close, and the contract you sign only helps to protect the Agent from any rare malice intentions. It does NOT obligate you or commit you to buying or selling any property.
How do I thank my Agent?
Tipping is NOT expected in real estate. The relationships I form with my clients throughout a transaction are often long-lasting and extend well beyond the close of any one real estate deal. I almost exclusively rely on word of mouth for growing my business, and so if I exceeded your expectations, then I invite you to please shout it from the top of a mountain! Recommend me to your friends and family. Write a 5-star review. Send me a statement about your experience that I can post to my website. Follow me on Facebook. And most importantly, please stay in touch and let me know when I can have the good fortune to work with you again… or even if you just want to grab some lunch and coffee!
First Time Home Buying
What’s the process for buying a home?
It’s fairly extensive and complex, so I’ll give just a brief overview for now and we’ll talk about it more detail when we can speak together. But here are the basics of what you can expect:
If you need a loan, you’ll need to speak with a Mortgage Lender to first understand if you can qualify for what you’re looking to spend. This will help determine what price range of homes you can be looking to purchase. Just let me know and I’ll be happy to recommend a Lending Agent to you. I’m not compensated for this recommendation, but I routinely work with Lending Agents and can recommend some based on personal experience working with them and feedback from others.
I’ll next collect every bit of information from you about what’s important to you in a home. I’ll then either recommend some listings to you and/or will set up a listing search in the MLS based on your wish-list criteria.
When you’re ready, you’ll then let me know which homes you’d like to see. I’ll schedule a showing time that works with your schedule and then we’ll go tour those homes, together.
When you find a home you’d like to buy, I’ll write up and provide an offer to purchase to the sellers. If the offer is accepted, then you’ll officially be under contract to buy the home! However, the home isn’t yours just yet. There is often a period of time for due diligence where you’ll be able to take a closer look at the home to make sure it’s the right fit for you.
When an offer is accepted, you’ll be asked to make a deposit, which is called “earnest money”. This is a good-faith payment for the sellers that is held in escrow and provides confidence to the sellers that you’re genuine about your interest to buy the home. As you meet all of your commitments in the contract to buy the home, this money is then often used towards the final purchase of the home. Some things to keep in mind about earnest money:
Even if you don’t expect to put any money down to buy the home with a loan, you should expect to have at least enough liquid cash to pay the earnest money. The amount can vary but is typically around 1% of the value of the home, (i.e., ballpark of $2000 - $5000) but sometimes can be more.
If the home is not what you expected after a closer inspection or your loan can’t be fulfilled by the lender, the earnest money will be refunded to you. However, if you default on the terms of the offer agreement, then this money becomes the property of the sellers.
Once under contract with an agreement to buy the home, you’ll perform due diligence to verify that the home is suitable and safe for you and your family. Some examples include:
Hire a licensed Home Inspector to verify the condition of the home. If the home’s condition is unsatisfactory, you’ll have an opportunity to ask the seller to make repairs.
If there’s a Home Owner Association, you’ll review related documentation about the association and neighborhood
If you’re seeking a loan from a lender, then an appraiser will assess the true value of the home. This person is most often hired by your Lending Agent.
As needed, there may also be other land surveys, soil reports, flood assessments, etc. that can be completed, too.
Finally, your loan application and the property will then be evaluated by a loan underwriter whose responsibility is to either approve or deny your loan. As soon as this is approved, though, then the final step is…
Close on your home! This is the day that you and the sellers will complete the deal and exchange funds for the transfer of keys and title of the property. Before this occurs, I’ll take you for one final walk-through of the property just to confirm that the state and condition of the home is exactly as you expected.
The final step is to celebrate! No instructions are needed, but this one is always my favorite to enjoy!
What is the MLS?
You may hear this term get tossed around when looking for a property to purchase. The MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is very simply the main database used by all Real Estate Agents when listing a property for sale. When you use my search tool to look for a new home, the MLS is the database from which I’m pulling and providing this information.