5 Important Questions I Wish I had Asked my Realtor Before I Started House Hunting
When I first started house hunting, I meet with the first real estate agent that responded to my email about an open house. We met briefly at a coffee shop, asked each other a few questions, and I signed a contract. The story ended with me getting the house of my dreams but there were certainly bumps along the way and more than a few times we didn’t see eye to eye.
In retrospect, I should have seen more realtors and asked more questions but at the time, the prospect of buying a house seemed so overwhelming, and vetting a realtor just wasn’t on my radar.
Here’s what I wished I had asked.
1. What experience do you have selling in my desired neighborhood?
Even if your realtor has experience selling houses in your region, so much can vary neighborhood-by-neighborhood and, in some cases, even street-by-street. In my neighborhood, house prices fluctuate by about 100,000 or more depending on what side of the main road you are on. Understanding the dynamics of your target neighborhood will help set your expectations and find realistic comps. It will also help you judge when it’s appropriate to negotiate and when you are getting the best deal. How desirable your target area is will also determine how aggressive you need to be and how quickly you need to move.
2. My pace is urgent/not urgent. Does that work for you?
When I was house hunting, my apartment was under a month-to-month contract. I wasn’t relocating to accommodate a new job offer or a growing family. In short, I had no urgent timeline and I was able to take my time finding the “perfect” house. Small things that may have been overlooked by others like a too-small guest bath or carpeted bedroom became deal-breakers for me.
It took me 6 months of searching to find the house that checked all the boxes and would become my new home. During all of that time, my realtor began to question my sincerity in finding a house. She was perturbed enough by it to write me a letter stating her displeasure.
Make sure that you are open with your realtor and that you are both on the same page. They should be willing to be in it for the long haul with you if you have a longer timeline. On the flip-side, if your timeline needs to be much quicker, make sure they’re willing to dedicate time upfront and they know how to fast-track the closing process.
3. Can you explain the home buying process from start to finish?
Buying a house is complicated! Your realtor should help you become as knowledgeable as possible. If they can clearly explain the process to you, and answer all of your questions, then that’s a sign that you will have good communication in the future.
4. How will you negotiate on my Behalf? How aggressive do you think I should be when making offers on houses in my target area? What other concessions do you typically ask for?
One of the biggest issues I had with my realtor was that I didn’t think she was aggressive enough. She did not want to negotiate. At all. In the first contract she wrote, she forgot to put in the closing costs that I asked for. There were also three items that I wanted the seller to fix: a broken concrete slab in the backyard, the drainage in the front of the house, and to re-sod the yard.
Of the three items that I wanted to be fixed, drainage is the one that I insisted on. I noticed that whenever it rained water would pool around the front steps making it impossible to get to the front door without wading through inches of water. My realtor tried to avoid bringing this up to the seller and instead, started sending me pictures of other houses around town that also flooded when it rained.
In the end, the seller was happy to make the fix. They also re-sodded the yard without us asking. In the end, I also got a reduced price and money towards closing costs but I had to fight for it. It still kick myself for not asking for the slab to be fixed.
5. What if I am unhappy with your Service?
Once you decide on a realtor, you will enter into a signed contract with that person. If you are unhappy with their services and wish to switch realtors, you will have to dissolve that contract. Make sure you know upfront what is involved in that process. If you decide to buy a house that your original realtor showed you, then they’ll likely still expect commission even though they are no longer your current agent because they were the “procuring cause”, for you buying the home.
