Eight Ways to Make Your Buyer Agent Love You
By Deborah Rutter
If you’ve enlisted the help of a Buyer Agent to help you search, narrow, negotiate and close on a property, first, congratulate yourself. Hiring an independent buyer agent whose sole focus is on you and your goals, not selling a specific property, is the best way to make sense (and dollars) in a fast-changing real estate market.
But how do you make sure you rise to the top of their priority list? Most active, strong, and competent buyer agents are working with lots of buyers and sellers at the same time. A great partnership is a two-way street and here are some tips to make yourself stand out!
1) Be Honest: As buyer agents, we don’t care what you want to buy, how much you have to spend, or what your timeline looks like. We want to be helpful, so being upfront about your needs, situation, and goals is key. If your hope and goals are not in line with the service we can provide, we’ll tell you. And we can make a recommendation to someone who can be a better fit.
2) If things change, tell us! Sometimes you decide to buy something different, spend more or less than you’d thought, move from only considering resales to new construction, or the other way around. Maybe you started with an in-city walkable neighborhood as a goal, and now? Two acres in the county sounds better. We want to get you from dreams to reality, so as your situation shifts, tell us. There’s a lot to chose from and if you’re new to the area, a first time home buyer, it can be daunting and a little overwhelming. We can help.
3) Be On Time. In a busy world, it’s easy to get behind after a busy work day, or managing an active household. If you’re scheduled to start at a certain time with your buyer agent, text, call, or email well in advance if you know you’re running behind. Sometimes we need to schedule very specific windows for showings and being late means we might be missing an opportunity. Sellers always remember who keeps them waiting, and when it comes time to negotiate a contract, you don’t want to be the one remembered as being late.
4) Be respectful. Sellers know who moved stuff, left trash behind, spilled coffee, dirtied up the clean carpets…you don’t want to be remembered for your visit for all the wrong reasons. Treat showings like you’re at a museum, or a funeral home. If there is a request to remove your shoes, be prepared to do that. Need coffee to keep you going? Leave it in the car to avoid mishaps and spills. Have to use the bathroom while you’re there? Be sure it’s clean when you leave. Opened the curtains or blinds for a better look? Put them back the way they were, even if it doesn’t make sense or isn’t the way you’d do things.
5) Just Say No. If you don’t like a property, tell us why. Whether you picked it out, or we made a recommendation, it’s helpful for us to know why. Get specific. Don’t like the paint colors? Easy to change. Are you unhappy with the neighborhood? We can adjust our search. Wish there was a different heating system? Good to know. We aren’t offended. We want to know what you like and dislike, and understand what motivates you. We would rather keep the process moving to things you do want to see. If you walk into a property and it’s not the one, but you can’t describe why, that’s okay too. Sometimes, it’s just a feeling you get, and that’s worth everything.
6) Heed our advice. Most buyer agents help buyers buy more properties in a year than most buyers purchase in a lifetime. We know what gums up the process in terms of delays and timing, what is usual and customary in this market to make the process flow smoothly, who does a great job for things like inspections and lending, and who doesn’t. Ask us questions, and then consider our recommendations. We want you to like our service enough to tell your friends and family when you’re done, so we have every incentive to give you just the right advice.
7) Get Comfortable. We are in the service business. We love when buyers tell us where they want to go for lunch, that they need a coffee or bathroom break, that the heat or A/C is too high, or not enough…we don’t think it’s demanding. We like knowing how to make you satisfied so you can concentrate on the big job you have of deciding what to buy. If you need something and you’re not getting it, tell us.
8) Change Your Mind? If you decide not to purchase, either with or without our help, or you have decided another community, city or state might be a better fit, great! Let us know right away. We don’t want to bother you with advice and listings that aren’t relevant, and we can often help with a referral to another trusted buyer agent.
Deborah Rutter is an Associate Broker at Nest Realty with passion for teaching. She knows buyers and sellers make the smartest decisions for themselves when they are armed with data and insight. She has taught first-time homebuyer education classes, and is a featured contributor on our blog. Check back for insights and advice or contact Deborah directly to discuss your buying or selling needs.