Best FishHawk REALTOR

FishHawk’s Best REALTOR®

Posted May 11, 2017

FishHawk’s Best REALTOR®

So you are looking for FishHawk’s best REALTOR®? At a minimum here is what you can expect this real estate agent to do for you as a home buyer.

What to Expect From A Buyer’s Agent

A REALTOR® is invaluable when you are trying to buy a home especially in FishHawk Ranch and the Tampa Bay area. Every real estate agent is different and takes a slightly different approach to the home buying process. At a minimum, there are certain tasks that every great REALTOR® should be doing for you as a buyer.

Previously I have blogged about 15 great REALTOR® interview questions. Today’s post will focus more on what a great agent should be doing for a buyer instead of buyer questions to ask a REALTOR®.

Feel free to incorporate this list with the interview questions to weed out the agents that you don’t want to work with. These topics are at a minimum the critical tasks the best REALTOR® should be doing for their home buyers. If you find a potential agent that says they don’t do something on this list or have their unlicensed assistant do items from the list, keep looking!

When you find a quality agent, they will be more than happy to take care of all of these tasks and much more. These are the benefits of having a great buyers agent working hard to represent you.

Once you find the best REALTOR® they will at a minimum complete these tasks for you when purchasing a home, no questions asked.

Guide Your Pre-Approved

A good REALTOR® has a sizable network of trusted professionals that are involved in the home buying and selling process. Your agent should be able to connect you with a trusted lender who will take you through the pre-approval process so you can begin the process of looking for your dream home.

In my opinion, a pre-approval should be the first step in any buying process. You will want to be pre-approved so you know how much you can spend. If you have not had a pre-approval done, talk to your real estate agent or your mortgage professional if you have one already, to get the pre-approval done.

One thing to keep in mind is there is a huge difference between being pre-approved and pre-qualified. If you want to make your strongest offer possible you will want a pre-approval. When you are pre-approved, the lender has verified your income, employment and run your credit. A pre-qualification letter does none of these things and in a lot of cases is given based on unverified information.

A great seller’s agent will advise their sellers not to accept any offers unless a pre-approval letter is submitted with the offer.

Assist With Your Home Search

As much as I try to make the buying process as fun and exciting as possible the truth is it can be a long and tiring process that requires you to make certain concessions so we can match your dream home to the reality of what is available in your price range. One of your REALTORS® key jobs is to identify what you want most and locate options that meet your goals as much as possible. The best real estate agents are going to counsel you on location, neighborhoods, schools, costs, expenses, and other pertinent factors.

The ability to listen and gather information is an important trait of the REALTOR®. If you find an agent that talks more than listens (yes we do have some of those in our industry) you should probably look for another agent.

Negotiate Your Offer

One of the biggest perks of having the best REALTOR® is their ability to negotiate the best price for your home purchase. I believe that negotiating an offer is science-based on information readily available on the home. Using this information, the best negotiators know the value of what they are attempting to buy or sell, which is what makes a great agent a priceless resource.

An exceptional buyer’s agent will analyze multiple factors to come up with a perfect offer price on a home. Some of those factors include the value of the home, price reductions, and days on market just to name a few. Once a perfect offer price has been determined you can decide if this is the offer you want to make or adjust the offer price at all. Once an offer is made there is a good chance that a counteroffer will be received. The agent should also be advising you on how to proceed when the seller responds.

They should know how to effectively negotiate to get you the best possible price on the home of your dreams. Ultimately the “market” drives the sales price of a home but that doesn’t mean a good negotiator can’t get you the best possible deal!

Picking a Home and WDO Inspector

Just like real estate agents, some inspectors are better than others. Your REALTOR® should know the best home inspectors in the area and give you a list of a few to call. You should call the inspector and ask some of these smart home inspection questions. Use these questions to make the best choice possible.

Some Home Inspectors also do WDO (Wood Destroying Organism) Inspections as well some do not. At the very least I try to schedule both the home and WDO inspections for the same time to try an inconvenience the seller as little as possible.

Attend Home Inspections

Your REALTOR® should attend the inspection to hear exactly what the home inspector finds and question anything that may need further clarification.

Keep in mind the inspector is paid to find everything wrong with the home. Some really nitpick and others just note what they deem is important. When the home inspection is complete and you are emailed the report from the inspector an excellent agent will counsel you on what is important and what should be brought to the seller’s attention to either repair or credit you for.

If your agent does not attend the inspection it makes it difficult to understand what the issues are and negotiate them properly. Make sure you find out up-front if your agent (not their unlicensed assistant) will be at the inspection. If they say they will not be attending assist they attend or find another agent.

Negotiate Home Repairs

The information you get from the home inspections can provide you with leverage for further negotiations. Based on the inspection reports you can request repairs, a credit, or even a reduced purchase price. Your REALTOR® is best qualified to negotiate for these things because they are the most knowledgeable about how each repair item will affect the value of the home.

Another role of a buyer’s agent is to also let you know when you want to ask for unreasonable home inspection requests. In the Tampa Bay area, we have two types of residential real estate contracts. One is the As-Is contract, that you are offering the buy the home as it is with the right to inspect. If you do find something with the inspection you can try to negotiate repairs, credit, or a reduced price. The seller is not required per the contract to correct any of these issues. As the buyer, you do have the right to cancel the contract if there is something you don’t like in the inspection. The second is regular Residential Contract For Sale and Purchase. This contract usually comes with set limits that a seller would need to correct on General Repair items that are spelled out in the contract. There is always some sort of give and take when it comes to home inspections. Keep in mind the purpose of a home inspection is not to make a perfect home, it is to find any items that could affect the value or usability of the home.

Communicate with Seller’s Agent Throughout the Sale

Communication throughout the entire closing process helps ensure your home purchase goes smoothly. Your real estate agent will be responsible for keeping everyone in the loop.

Your agent is the one most qualified for this because they know how to measure the importance of information, and knows who needs what and when to keep the ball rolling.

Unfortunately, some agents are just not very good at communicating. There can be lots of reasons for this from being a part-time agent to just not realizing how important it is to people. Whatever the reason, some agents just don’t understand how important this is.

Monitoring Your Loan

Your REALTOR® should be an agent that stays on top of all the timelines and contract items. This includes monitoring how the loan process is going. Great agents make sure buyers understand they need to maintain their current credit status. Simple mortgage mistakes are common and have a huge impact on your ability to obtain a loan. Please see my Buyers Guide and read my 10 real estate mortgage rules to follow. It could save you from heartache later.

Keep in mind that the pre-approval you got for your home purchase is not written in stone and it is a fragile thing based on the information given to the lender at the time of the pre-approval request. Any changes you may incur with your financial situation could make it impossible to get the loan or reduce the amount of the loan available to you.

Your real estate agent should keep in touch with your loan professional throughout the loan process and continually monitor the status of your loan.

Keep Working Through Closing

Once you are closed and funded you get the keys to your new home! But to get there your agent will be working on a surprising number of details to get you closed. All of these details need to be taken care of and cleared before you officially become the owner of the home. Failing to take care of every single detail could cause a delay or even worse cause the closing to fall through.

A great agent will take care of all of these seamlessly so your closing goes through without a hitch. Your agent should ensure they are alongside you at your closing so you can be sure you have the support and advice you need.

My Final Thoughts

As a buyer, if you are looking for the best REALTOR® in FishHawk, you should expect the best from your REALTOR®! You are making what will most likely be the largest single purchase you will make in your lifetime. Ensure you talk to agents and find a local expert that has plenty of experience. It is also important to find an agent that you will enjoy working with. Follow these steps and you will be well on your way to finding the home of your dreams!

It would be my pleasure to assist you with buying your dream home. If you’d like to interview me please contact me today.

Important FishHawk Ranch Information

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About the author

The above real estate article “FishHawk’s Best REALTOR®” was written by Jeff Gould.

Jeff is a top-selling, nationally recognized Florida REALTOR® and local FishHawk Ranch real estate expert. Jeff sells homes in the entire Tampa Bay area. Including FishHawk, Lithia, Riverview, Valrico, Apollo Beach, Brandon, and Tampa.

If you are looking to sell or buy a Tampa Bay area home, Jeff is your local and trusted professional.