Recommendations To Use A Realtor In Your Upcoming Home Purchase
With all important decisions in life, you want to have the right knowledge and information, along with help from those in the field who can provide experience and expertise. A real estate agent is your key to having a successful home purchase, and are available to help in a home purchase from start to finish. Here are some recommendations to help you use a realtor in your next successful home purchase.
Work With and Through Your Realtor
When you start off in your home search, your realtor will help you select homes that fit your search criteria. From there you can go out and tour through the homes, to help narrow down your search to homes that are more specifically a match to your wants and needs. But at this point, you always want to allow your realtor to be your agent in the process. This means if you want to see a home, let your realtor know so they can arrange it with the seller and their agent.
For example, if you see a property you want to get more details on, let your realtor know, and they will collect the details for you. Then, when you want to make an offer on a home, your realtor will help you fill out the appropriate contracts and submit them to the seller's agent. Any negotiations to come to an agreed-upon price will continue through your agent. Be sure you take advantage of all your realtor has to offer by allowing them full agency for you.
Arrange a Home Inspection
When you have found a home that you love and want to purchase, let your realtor know that it is the one you want to pursue in buying. Your realtor will help you make an offer and get a contract on the home so you can proceed with the process to work towards closing. As part of the contract details, you should have a deadline by which you can hire a professional inspection on the property. This deadline gives you time to hire a home inspector to thoroughly go through the home and look for any problems that may affect the home's value or how much you are willing to pay for it.
If, for example, your inspector finds some problems in the foundation or a moisture leak in the kitchen cabinets and wall, you can work at renegotiating the purchase terms. At this point, you and your realtor will provide further details within the purchase contract in regards to the price or ask for the seller to make some of the repairs before you close. As another option, you can walk away from the home sale and get your earnest money back. This latter option provides you the opportunity to get out of the contract due to serious problems in the home that would cost too much or make the home unsatisfactory or unsafe. An example of this situation would be in which the home was found to have meth residue all through the interior of the home or the foundation of the home requires full renovation to make the home safe for occupancy.