As we discussed in my last post, a good Realtor can save you money when you are looking to buy a home. Today, in Part 2, I want to talk about how NOT having a Realtor can cause you to lose out, not just financially, but also in the home you want to purchase.
I recently had a client who was selling their home. Some upgrades would have made his home sell for more money, but he wanted to move out as quickly as possible and didn’t want to invest any time or money into his house before he left it. Knowing this, we priced his home for under market value, as whomever would be buying the home would need to spend some money to upgrade it.
Well, it’s a seller’s market right now and finding a home under market value is rare, so it wasn’t a surprise when we received several different offers for the home. One particular buyer’s offer stood out. Not because it was a good offer- but because of their situation. This buyer sent in an offer that was less than our asking price- surprising, since it was clear that our price was already under market value. Then, after seeing the condition of the house, the buyer lowered his offer even further.
This buyer had no Realtor. He didn’t know the market values for homes in the area and didn’t know that our house was already priced very low. Because he had no Realtor, he had no shot at this home. His offer was tens of thousands less than every other offer we received, but he had no idea that he wasn’t competitive at all.
Should this buyer continue to try and represent himself, he will find it very difficult to find a home and find it even more difficult to get a fair price for it.
It’s hard to see someone miss out like this. As a Realtor, it’s hard to see someone fail, knowing you have the tools to help them but aren’t in a position to be able to help them.
Hire a good Realtor. It makes all the difference in a successful home purchase or sale.
