Advising Family Members as a Professional Realtor...

Advising Family Members as a Professional Realtor...

Advising family members as a professional Realtor means walking on eggshells.  You have to maintain not only your professional position but also the family connection - family status remains behind when the client status disappears! 

My niece's husband decided to make an appointment to talk with a new home builder about purchasing a home when their current apartment lease expires in two months.  The need to advise quickly would not have been so urgent but their complex requires a 60 day notice about renewing.

Britt, my niece, put a halt to the appointment when she reminded him that they needed to talk with AUNT GWYNN, the Professional Austin Texas Realtor!  Yea - I've taught at least one of my family members to call before making a Real Estate move.

It's touchy asking those questions to qualify whether this is the right thing for your client to do....what's your financial status?  Do you know your credit scores?  Do you have money for down payment and closing cost?  Bankruptcy?  Late fees?  Any hidden skeletons in your closet that you want to tell Aunt Gwynn?

After a lengthy discussion with my niece, doing research on the builder/community and advertised "Come In and Let Us Sell You a Home for No Money Down" through our lender, the best advice I could give her was to call my trusted lender, Carrie Hundley of Benchmark Bank (512-219-8300).

 Let's get you on a plan to purchase a home in the future - rates may  be low, housing prices awesome but it's still not in the cards at this time for you!!

Aunt Gwynn and Gwynn the Professional Realtor has come through with flying colors (and I'm still getting a gift at Christmas).