Questions to Ask Your Realtor before You Hire

Before you settle on a Realtor to help you with buying a home, you should ask a series of questions. This person has a big part in helping you find the home you want to buy and live in for the next few years, you should make sure that you are getting someone who will make that possible and you will be able to work with. You can usually ask these questions when you first call him or her at the Realtor’s office. This way, you won’t have to waste time with a home visit when you know it’s not going to work out. Beware that some Realtors want to only speak to you when coming to your home for the presentation, simply tell the person you want to ask a few questions before going forward in the process.

Here are some questions to ask:

• What types of resources do you use to help people find a home?

• What are your hours of availability to show a home?

• How many people in the past month, 6 months or year have you helped close on a home?

• How long have you been in real estate?

• How long do you anticipate that it will take to find a home I am looking for?

• Do you often network with other Realtors to find out about new houses that come on the market as quickly as possible?

• How long do I have to work with you if I enter into a Realtor contract with you?

Do you have any questions you would like to add? Leave a comment and share!

(Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daquellamanera/72661586/)

Using a Realtor to Sell Your Home

You want to sell your house but you don’t know if you should use a Realtor or try to sell it on your own. Using a Realtor can put you ahead in the housing market; consider the following benefits of using one to sell your home.

The Benefits of Using a Realtor

• You don’t have to do anything but sit back and let the Realtor do everything, which means more time to get ready for your move.
• The Realtor works in your area and knows how much houses that are comparable to yours go for in the market.
• There are many insider tricks that a Realtor can use to try to sell your home.
• They have better networking opportunities since they work with many other Realtors around the country.
• Your house will be listed in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) which lists all homes for sale by Realtors in the country. The MLS is a great resource for buyers, by the way!
• If you’re not into sales, you may not have an easy time “selling” your house to interested buyers.
• A Realtor stands by your side and represents you in every step of the sale.
• Will give you advice about what you should do to your house to make it more appealing to buyers.
• A Realtor will help you with the complex real estate forms throughout the home selling process.
• All you need to do at closing is show up to sign because your Realtor will contact all other parties.

In reality, if you don’t know anything about real estate and how to sell it, you should employ a Realtor. However, if you would like to research how to sell property ‘for sale by owner’ there are benefits to that as well, which will be covered in the next post!

(Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokersaunders/3557304504/)