Let’s See! What Does a Real Estate Agent Do?

Saturday, April 11, 2020, 6:00 AM | Leave Comment

• Shopping for a new home is fun! And a real estate agent can help you navigate the paperwork and procedures that make the process tedious.

• 87% of homeowners purchased their property through a real estate agent, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Real estate agents help people buy or sell real estate and are licensed to operate in their state, usually under a real estate agency or brokerage. Facilitating the purchase or selling of property can involve showing houses, listing property, filing in contracts, negotiating prices, and performing other tasks related to real estate.

• Who is a Real Estate Agent?

  Real estate agents are individuals who have gone through a state licensing exam to work as a facilitator in real estate transactions. They work for both buyers and sellers, and they essentially help you get your home listed, and they get involved in negotiating price for buyers; which means they look out for the best interests of their clients. Homebuyers and sellers each need to have a representative when buying or selling property, and these agents represent their clients by looking at every aspect of the transaction, making sure their client avoids potential pitfalls in home ownership.

• Role of a Real Estate Agent

  When you hire a real estate agent, you can expect them to perform the following roles:

  • Help you get pre-approved for a home loan

  • Guiding you through the process of acquiring a mortgage

  • Determining the value of a property in the current real estate market

  • Get you the right property based on your criteria

  • Connect you with a buyer or seller

  • Negotiate offers on your behalf

  • Marketing your property to other brokerages and agencies to achieve a quick buy/sell

  • Screening buyers to ensure they tick all the right boxes

  • Advising you on home ownership as a first-time buyer

  • Going to home inspections on your behalf

  • Coordinating the lengthy process of preparing documents, overseeing inspections, and finally, signing the contract and closing the deal

• How to find a Real Estate Agent

  There are a number of ways to locate a good real estate agent, and we’re going to cover a few of them here.

  1. Search online

     A quick search for real estate agents in your local area will yield a long list of results. Go through them and use the process of elimination to find one that meets your criteria.

  2. Ask for recommendations

     Speak to friends and family who may have purchased a home recently and ask if they can recommend a good real estate agent. If none of your friends and family have bought a home in the recent past, you can try doing this online through real estate forums.

  3. Attend an open house

     If you’re having trouble finding an agent, go to an open house and speak with the agent involved with the property.

  4. Visit the NAR website

     The National Association of Realtors website has a huge database of qualified and licensed agents that you can contact for a job. Take a look at the agents listed from your city or town.

  5. Examine current listings

     Home listings will have some information on the agent or agency that’s handling the sale, so you may contact them through this information.

  Once you identify an agent that you want to hire, it is recommended that you conduct an interview to learn more about them and their track record. It may also be useful to conduct a Google search to find reviews on them and speak to some of their most recent clients as well.

  
  

• Why Should Anybody Hire a Real Estate Agent?

  The process of home ownership is one that follows a slow, tedious process, and it can help to have an industry expert representing you. Real estate agents, just like attorneys and other professionals, serve an important role in society – in this case, the buying and selling of property. And since many of these agents work in tandem with their peers in the industry, having one of them can make it much easier to buy or sell, even in a slow market.

Make sure that your agent is licensed and listed in the NAR directory; but other than that, go with whoever you feel is best suited to represent you. Experience on the part of the agent is crucial to this business, but personality can also be an issue for some people.

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