"I just need someone to open the doors."

                                                                                                                   

Want to see some houses?  Understand, I'm more than just a "door opener". 

Most home buyers in today's marketplace have spent a great deal of time researching the homebuying process online, and have looked at just about every home out there before they've made the call to talk to a real estate professional.  They think they know everything there is to know about buying a house, and they are frustrated that they can't just go out there and see the homes themselves, but have to call and schedule an appointment with someone to open the doors for them.

I had one client recently, who was a perfect illustration of this tendency to view a Realtor as just someone to open the doors for them so that they could see the inside of the homes that they already knew they were interested in.  Let me tell you, he changed his opinion very quickly!

This buyer had researched every aspect of the neighborhoods he was interested in, had determined how much he would qualify for on his mortgage, and had a list of homes for us to see.  The first thing he had missed was the special assessment taxes on each and every home he had selected.  He wanted a newer home, something he'd be less likely to need to do a lot of maintenance on in the beginning.  Good thinking, but newer homes in the Riverside County area almost always have some amount of special assessment taxes (aka "Mello Roos") which were used by the builder to cover the costs of the infrastructure of the development.  In many locations, these taxes can be $3,000 to $4,000 per year over and above the normal taxes, which are based on the value of the home.  

 

Another thing that most buyers don't know about the current real estate market, and that my know-it-all buyer missed as well,  is that short sales can be a nightmare.  Not only the waiting for the bank to come back with an answer, but even just finding out if a particular home is really available and trying to evaluate which homes are likely to actually get approved in the long run.  A Realtor who knows their market, is familiar with the inventory, and knows what to look for in the particulars of a home on the market as a short sale can save their client a great deal of worry and wasted time. Buyers see the price on the ad they looked at online, but the Realtor knows that price is $30,000 below what the bank will actually approve, and that the listing agent has had 20 offers on the home for 6 months, but still has the home in "active" status.  My buyer had no clue, but I provided the "comps" I always bring on showing appointments, and he saw that no home had sold anywhere near that list price in recent history.

Then, once you're in the home, there are things a Realtor learns to look for that you just can't read in books.  There's the telltale smell of mold as you walk in, which always leads me on the hunt for the source.  A leak under the kitchen sink? Probably not a deal breaker if it's the right house and a buyer is prepared to take on the project.  A wall along the bedroom where the baseboards are a little discolored?  We're leaving, on to the next property.  For my know-it-all, it was the slight brown stain on the ceiling under an upstairs bathroom that he never would have seen, in his newer property that he didn't want to have to do work on immediately. I pointed it out, and we left a home that he was very interested in, and I might have been able to "sell" to him. 

I was gentle with my know-it-all.  I educated him, as I do all my buyers, and he came to realize on his own how important it is to have the right person on his side in the transaction.  The main theme of the comments left by my buyers is that they felt exactly that - they had someone on their side through the process of viewing homes and all the way through the transaction.

Don't select your Realtor based on your call to ask about a particular home that is advertised for sale. Do yourself a favor, and schedule a consultation with at least 2 or 3 people, to find the one who will be on your side, and not just open doors to "sell" you a home.