Everything Every Estate Agent Wishes You Knew

Buying and selling homes is easy when you’re a real estate agent. However, the sales process is challenging if you’re a first-time buyer or seller.

First, there’s the prepping of your home if you’re selling so it is in the best condition for viewings and photos. Then there is the selection of an estate agent who needs to be good at marketing your home to the right audience of homebuyers. The challenges don’t stop here; you need to know what your home is worth and how much you want to sell it. Plus, a lot goes into property transactions, and every real estate agent across the land wishes you knew that dealing in property isn’t easy peasy. But that isn’t the only thing they want you to know.

It’s All About How Quick You Are

When the property market is red hot i.e. it’s in the boom phase of the property cycle it’s fair to say that houses are sell like hotcakes! So, it is imperative that all buyers don’t waste any time when it comes to putting in an offer on a house they like.

Once you’ve made up your mind that you want to make an offer, pick up that phone and sort it out. If you wait too long, you might be too late, and someone could have snapped it up! But you should also be wary even if your offer is accepted. That’s because you could still get gazumped. Gazumping occurs when an offer on the house has been accepted but then gets disregarded because someone else has placed an even better offer on the table. So, to avoid this, you need to swap the sale and purchase contract as soon as possible once your offer has been given the green light. Once the contracts have been swapped, there is no going back.

Changing Real Estate Agent Isn’t Going To Help

Some people get frustrated when their property has been on the market for a long time. Even though some houses sell like hotcakes, it doesn’t necessarily mean yours will! So, it would help if you were prepared for the long haul.

However, some people don’t have much patience and think that changing to a different real estate company will help them sell their homes more quickly. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case – if one real estate agent is having trouble selling your home, another probably will. That’s because the problem probably lies with your property or the asking price. Rather than switching estate agents after a few months, it’s a much better idea to talk things through with your current one and see how you could better prepare your property for the market.

It’s Not Us Slowing Things Down… It’s Your Lawyer

Another part of buying and selling houses frustrates people is waiting for the deal to be confirmed and for everyone to sign on the dotted line. Sometimes, when the buyer or seller loses patience, they can lash out at the real estate agent. But this isn’t entirely fair. More often than not, the person slowing down everything is the lawyer, as they have to confirm the legality of the transaction.

If you are determined for a quick sale, you should give your lawyer plenty of warning so they have an idea of when they will be needed. That way, they can leave their schedule free, giving them plenty of time to dedicate to selling or purchasing your property.

There Are Other Legalities To Cover Too

When most people buy or sell a house, they think they only need a lawyer to oversee the deeds during the sale. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. It’s wise to get a couple of others on board as well. For starters, it’s a good idea to work closely with an estate lawyer if you are buying a house. This is so they can take a copy of the deeds to add to your last will.

It is also necessary to talk to property and structural lawyer so that you can carry out a building survey. Carried out by construction specialists, the survey will check the current state of the building and flag any repairs or damage that might need seeing. The structural lawyer will help figure out which party is responsible for taking care of these and paying.

The Time To Buy Is Always Now

Even though house prices are at an all-time high, every real estate agent knows there is no better time to buy than now. That’s because renting will always be more expensive than buying, even at current prices. When you rent a house, the money you spend every month on rent goes straight into your landlord’s pocket. However, when you have a mortgage, all the money goes into an investment. And once you have paid off your mortgage, you will have your own home and invest in property!

Real Life Isn’t A Home Show

These days, there are tons of TV shows that focus on buying a house. They are usually filled in a reality TV style and follow a couple or a family searching for a town or city with a real estate agent for their ideal home. Sadly, though, real life rarely works out like these shows. These TV shows make buying and selling a house extremely easy. It’s just not like this, though!

Remember that these programs are filmed over a few months and are heavily edited. So, if it seems like the TV real estate agent found the family the perfect property in hardly any time, thank the editing suite in the production company!

Once you understand everything your real estate agent wishes you knew, you will find that buying or selling your home becomes much less stressful!