Buying your first home is a huge step and involves a lot of planning, research and financial analysis. Some buyers, I would say, most, especially with the abundance of houses easily found online, tend to start looking at houses and then do the planning. And that is fine if they want to go about it that way, but if a buyer starts working with a professional Realtor, that Realtor's job is to take a step back and go through the buyer education process as well as pre-approval process with a lender. And this is done by asking questions, listening to answers and providing guidance based on expertise and experience. Buyers won't always know an agent needs to do this, it's the agent's job to make this happen.
I just got a call from a new prospective buyer who was working with another agent and decided to part ways. This buyer explained that she felt she'd been thrown into looking at houses and gotten a pre-approval with no counseling or explanation as to how it all works. She admitted she was "keeping options open" and looking between buying, renting a place for herself, her business and both. I said that there's nothing wrong with keeping options open for a while, but at some point, your agent has to step in after looking at the available inventory for the buyer's needs and start making some suggestions to narrow the focus.
Then there's also the fact that there had been no real counseling done about the process before or during this home search. She had never laid eyes on the Regional Sales Contract or Buyer Broker Agreement, never been educated about Agency, Fair Housing...nada. She felt confused and alone and as though she was really doing this all on her own.
I think it's easy for agents, who are client service, pleaser type of people, to forget that buyers, because they ask to start looking at houses, don't really know that's not the best way to begin a home buying search. The buyer says I'd like to see this house, and they agent says "okay, when?"
Buyers, especially first time, don't know what they don't know and it's the agent's job to guide and lead them to get the facts and the process down before you jump in and start looking at houses.
And a lender who just makes you fill out an app and then gives you a number you'll qualify for without getting to know your needs and wants is not really doing a thorough job either. This particular buyer has an unusual set of needs and a lender who doesn't bother to get to know those needs is not doing good enough of a job.
I recommend lenders who ask questions about goals, needs, bigger financial picture, etc. not just throw a bunch of numbers into a DU program.
First time buyers don't always know what they want, don't know the right questions to ask, and they need a reliable, professional agent to guide and educate them through the process, not just open doors to listings.
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