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What you should expect from your real estate agent

Whether you’re selling or buying Penticton real estate, you’ll quickly realize that this is a process you can’t engage in on your own. You’ll need to rely upon a capable, experienced agent. Here are things that a good real estate agent should be doing for you to earn their commission:

Get you pre-approved before you start shopping

Regardless of how many real estate listings you’ve researched, visited, or previewed on television, it all means nothing if you can’t afford your prospective dream properties. But how can you find out how much property you can afford to purchase, even after you’ve sourced all of the pricing information?

You get yourself pre-approved for a loan. Ideally, your real estate agent (or broker) should have a network of preferred lenders they work with.

These are vetted lenders that they’ve done plenty of business with in the past, and after you’ve applied for a mortgage with the lenders you’ll have a clear idea of how much you’ll be approved to finance. You’ll need to be armed with this information before you seriously begin the search for your new home.

Take the grunt-work out of finding prospective properties

Speaking of driving all over the region to look at homes, and not to mention researching newspaper ads, you’d probably love for someone to take over some of the grunt-work off of your hands. You do have a person to utilize in all of this, and that person is your realtor.

Part of the reason why your realtor earns their commission is due to the energy they place into performing all of the new-property research on your behalf. When you’re ready to start placing bids on properties, your realtor should have a database of prospective properties ready for you to review.

Negotiating the best price for your budget

Just because a mortgage lender has approved your loan for a certain amount of money doesn’t mean that you should be forced to spend every last cent on the home sale! You might need a little room in your budget to make repairs, improvements, perform a bit of landscaping, etc.

A good agent understands that just like anything else, you want the best value for your money. This means that they should negotiate the lowest price on your behalf that the seller will accept.

Not only will a good agent be able to negotiate a good price for you, they’ll also know how to take advantage of negotiation tactics such as asking for a lower price on a property that has been on the market for an extended period of time. The same holds true for a property that requires a little extra repair work.

Attending the property inspection

Whether you’re buying or selling your property, a good agent will make it their business to attend the property inspection. While they don’t have a say in whether or not a property passes inspection, they’ll be able to translate the inspectors notes. The notes will contain information that could help to either increase or decrease the value of the property.

Pricing your property correctly

If you’re the seller of a property, then it’s crucial to work with an agent who will put your home on the market at a proper price point.

If your home is priced too high, then buyers won’t want to invest, and your home will sit on the market too long. When this happens, then it raises questions as to the quality of your property, further discouraging others to buy it.

Let’s face it- regardless of what you feel it’s worth, you have to listen to what the market is saying it’s worth, and have your agent price it accordingly.

Invest in top-notch marketing

How would feel about an agent who feels that plunking a sign on your property or handing out sloppy sales flyers is a good-enough marketing strategy? Now think of how you’d feel about an agent who takes beautiful photos of your property, posting these on professional websites and social media pages?

You’d probably want to work with the second agent, and you should. The agent who deserves your business will invest money into a proper marketing campaign to best sell your property.

Keep the lines of communication open in your favor

There’s nothing more disheartening than to hand over all of the responsibilities of buying or selling your home to an agent, just to have them disappear on you.

Even if there’s no progress on the purchase or sale of your home, a top-notch, professional agent will keep you abreast of what’s going on. They won’t leave you in the dark.

Pre-screen potential buyers

Finally, if you’re selling your home, then the last thing you want to deal with is a prospect who wastes your time because they can’t close the sale. Your agent should vet and pre-screen prospects who have their finances in good and proper order.

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