If you’re buying your first house, or you’re a buyer who hasn’t made a purchase recently, it’s important to understand what it takes to buy real estate in today’s market.
Work with a Realtor
Once your financing is in place, (we talked about this in January) it’s time to get busy looking. While you can look for yourself – and most realtors don’t mind at all if you do – it’s always best to have realtor on your team.
Why?
Knowledge
We know Nashville. Even if you’ve lived here for years, a good realtor probably knows more about more neighborhoods than you do. There might be properties you’d love to own in places you didn’t even know existed.
We know the inventory. We know what’s available, often before it hits the market. There are 300 realtors at Village, and we share information about our “coming soons”. As a result, Village does 30% if its business in-house, often before properties are listed.
We know the process. We know the paperwork – contracts, counteroffers, disclosures, disclaimers, amendments – and the deadlines. We know how to write and package a strong offer. And we know how to carry things through to a successful close.
Whether it’s your first buy or your fiftieth, in Nashville’s intensely competitive market, this kind of knowledge is power.
Experience
Every real estate deal is different, and there’s almost always a surprise along the path from offer to closing. No realtor has seen every possible situation, but most have seen their share. And at Village, with our vast store of experience, if a snag or a puzzle pops up, there’s a colleague who has dealt with the same situation and knows how to work it out.
Skill
Realtors negotiate deals. Yes, we do help clients locate and look at properties. But the crunch comes in getting the deal right, and keeping it right from offer to closing. It requires negotiation all the way through. We are good at this.
And it’s free …
As a buyer, everything realtors have to offer comes to you at no charge. Realtors’ commissions generally come out of the seller’s proceeds, not the buyer’s pocket.
So, by all means hit the streets, hit the web, and hunt for your special house. But let a realtor help you. It will cost you nothing, and could gain you a great deal.