Choosing a buyer's agent at Lake Sinclair & Milledgeville, GA

I'm always amazed when I get an offer on one of Lane Realty's listings and the little DOES NOT REPRESENT PURCHASER box has big fat X in it.  Who in this day and age wants no representation?  Why would a buyer work with an agent who will not represent them?  The agent you are working with is either doing one of two things... violating license law or not being on your side, both are bad.

At Lane Realty we do represent buyers and let me tell you just a few things that we do for you that might make you reconsider before you hire or decide to work with an agent.  But first let me digress just a little to what happens if you choose me as your buyer agent and then fall deeply in love with one of MY listing which can cause single agency to go out the window.  My office does if all parties agree sometimes do dual agency, BUT in most cases the listing side and selling side are assigned to different agencies creating what is known in Georgia as designated agency.  Same brokerage with one agent representing the seller and another representing the buyer.  If that doesn't make a buyer I have been working with happy then I will refer out to another agent at another firm that I recommend or they can seek their own agent to make an offer on a Lane Realty listing.

Now back to the regularly scheduled programming:

When you hire an agent at Lane Realty to represent you the buyer you get the following

WE GIVE YOU A LIST OF LENDERS:

• That list is not the same for each buyer.  The homes you are looking at determine who best to pre-qualify you.  Some lenders do manufactured homes, others do not, some lenders do strip lease properties, other do not, some lenders do full lease lots others do not, some lenders do USDA, FHA and & VA others do not.  But we listen to what type of home you are looking to purchase and give you lenders to fit those types of properties to get pre-approved

ONCE WE HAVE LENDER PRE-APPROVAL:

• We do an immediate search and also set up a email notification for future searches where our buyers will be notified not only if a new listing arrives in the MLS inventory, but also price changes in their range.
• We call agents with hip pocket listings
• we check For Sale By Owners that might work
• We check to see if any homes are listed no within our MLS by checking data with the other two MLSs that overlap into our area

ONCE WE HAVE IDENTIFIED HOMES:

• We set an appointment to show you homes
• Make appointments for listings
• verify availability and don't just trust it being "Active" in the MLS
• provide you with printouts and a folder for note taking
• as a general rule we schedule no more than 8 listings in a day (they begin to run together after that)
• we always take our camera in the even you want some reminder photos of a certain house

ONCE YOU FIND A HOME YOU ARE READY TO MAKE AN OFFER TO PURCHASE:

• While we rarely suggest offer price, we do let you know when we are sure the offer will be rejected with no counter
• We provide a Market Analysis to show like area sales to help guide you in your offer
• We contact your lender for a pre-approval letter that matches your offer amount
• We help negotiate counter offers and listen carefully to the listing agent who sometimes gives us clues as to what the seller will take and well sometimes they foolishly out and out tell us and we share that information with our buyers we represent

ONCE WE HAVE A CONTRACT:

• We provide you with a list of tried and true inspectors for your home inspection
• We attend said inspections
• We help negotiate any repairs or price adjustments due to concerns with property.
• We make sure everyone is getting thing done on time
• We communicate with loan officers and appraisers and assist where needed
• We help with getting elevation certificates when needed to prevent having to buy flood insurance
• We recommend trusted attorneys for title work and communicate with their offices and get quotes on closings and title insurance.
• We are happy to assist with quotes on improvements, changes and repairs that can be done after closing by buyer

GETTING READY TO CLOSE:

• We do a walk through with buyers to make sure everything is the same as when the contract was drafted or negotiated repairs completed
• We remind you to wire funds
• We make sure you see the HUD Settlement Statement prior to closing
• We attend closings with you to make sure everything goes smooth

AFTER THE CLOSING:

• I've mentioned this before, but we kinda come with the house... we will help recommend repair people and do all sorts of helpful things after the closing, not for just a week or a month, but for life.  Our closing gift to you is we are STILL your agent and will always do what we can to help. 

So you can go around with no buyer representation if you that's what you want, but I really don't recommend it.  We're here to help and guide and educate you on the process.  And believe me when I tell you just because you have purchased a home before it's not the same unless you did it last week.  Well perhaps not even then.  Things are changing all the time and we also pride ourselves at Lane Realty on keeping up with current issues and taking classes as things in the industry change.  Call us, we can help.