Your realtor might be doing things that are costing you money and potentially costing you. All the added stress that goes into buying a house can be accelerated by having a bad realtor. We're going to talk about eight different things that your realtor might be doing that are devastating. It sounds a little dramatic, but it really can be devastating to you getting the house that you want and to saving money on your home. So let's go ahead and jump into these eight things your realtor might be doing that you need to watch out for.
Number one is. If they're charging upfront costs and not that the realtor is charging upfront cost, but if they're doing things that cost you money without consideration, here's a great example.
If you're a realtor is just having you order an appraisal immediately without considering what the home inspection is going to look like or what the appraisal might return then they could be costing you 500 to a thousand dollars in costs that you might not be able to get back. Let's run through an example.
So if you're buying a home you're probably going to get an inspection first and then have an appraisal done. So your inspection is going to detail problems with the home that might need to be fixed. And what often happens for most people when they get out of a deal it's after the inspection comes back and they say, Hey, we don't want to go through with this home. It has too many issues. Some, there are some realtors who will just have a lender order, an appraisal right upfront. And so what ends up happening is you paid $500 for the inspection. Then you also paid maybe $500 for the appraisal, and then you chose to back out of the deal afterward.
A good realtor is going to be one who probably waits to order that appraisal. It might take a little bit longer to get the deal done, but if they anticipate there being any issues with the inspection, wait on paying for your appraisal also make sure that your realtor understands the appraisal and what they're going to be looking for in the home.
I've also seen realtors that have an appraisal ordered on a home that I know that they know won't pass an FHA appraisal. For instance, it might have chipping paint or broken windows, but then they have an order in FHA appraisal. It's not gonna pass so the buyer has to pay for the appraisal with the potential of losing the deal, losing 500 bucks, and then the potential for a re-inspection if the seller agrees to repairs. So make sure that your realtor explains what these costs look like, and if they can be refunded, the inspection, can't be refunded if it's finished, and the appraisal can only be refunded if the appraiser hasn't gone out to the property. So something to watch out for.
Also if your realtor is rarely available, then you're missing out on a lot. If your realtor is unavailable for showings, right? If they're too busy and you need to go see a home and they say I'm not available until next Wednesday, then you probably need to find another realtor.
Now, granted, your realtor is not always gonna be available within an hour, that's a little unrealistic expectation, but they need to be ready to accommodate when you're looking at seeing a home, especially if you're in a really competitive market.
So if they're unavailable for showings, but a huge one too is if they're unavailable for calls, texts, emails, I can't tell you how big of a problem it is, where realtors and lenders alike just don't return phone calls. They don't return emails. They don't return texts. It's ridiculous. I return every call, text, and email. Sometimes it takes me a little bit of time because I'm working with somebody else or I'm working on another file, but you need somebody who returns these calls. So you can move forward with a deal without the added stress and hassle of not knowing or not having any communication.
Another one is not playing nice with others. So this is really big as far as communication. You need a realtor who communicates with everybody else in the deal. A bad realtor doesn't communicate with the lender. Doesn't communicate with a title company. Doesn't communicate with the inspector. Doesn't communicate with the appraisal appraiser. Doesn't communicate with the other realtor.
So you need a realtor who's willing to put their ego aside and communicate with everybody. Keep everybody on track and not feel like everything is hostile. In real estate, we're all working together. We all want the same thing.
The seller wants to sell. The buyer wants to buy. The realtor wants to close. The lender wants to close. Everybody wants the same thing, and we have to work on getting that together and tackling problems together. Not trying to split ourselves apart and fight each other through the process.
Your realtor might be putting commissions ahead of you. They might be looking at you as the next paycheck, as opposed to what's in your best interest. A really good realtor is going to inform you on deals that you shouldn't take and show you things that you shouldn't be doing. Not things that you should. A lot of times we think of realtors as somebody who says, you need to buy this, you need to buy this like a used car salesman.
A good realtor is somebody who is actually going to say, "I wouldn't suggest you do this". And when they do that, you understand that they're putting your best interests ahead of their own commission. And they're not just seeing you as the next paycheck. They're seeing you as somebody who has an interest in this home and they want to see you have the best experience possible moving forward.
Your realtor also might be steering you. They might be steering you into programs or steering you into moving quicker than you want to do, or steering you into decisions. So realtors often do this when they talk about down payment assistance programs and rates.
So I see this all the time with rates, especially because right now we're experiencing some of the lowest interest rates that we've seen in history. So what I see a lot of realtors doing is saying rates are so low. You need to buy. Renting is throwing away money, you need to buy. There are down payment assistance programs, you need to buy.
In my opinion, I think that's great to inform people about those, but there's no point in steering people into a decision with partial information. If you're making a buying decision, just because there's a grant available or just because there are lower rates, then it's probably not a well-informed decision moving forward.
And I see this happen all the time. For instance, down payment assistance programs, down payment assistance programs are. Great. If you have a program that you know of, that's great. Let me know. I doubt there is one that actually has beneficial long-term for people, but I see realtors all the time saying here's a new down payment assistance program, go get it. Here's how we need to purchase your home. They're just basically trying to sell a home right there. They're trying to make a commission by getting you into a deal. That's probably not going to be the most financially beneficial for you and your family.
Also, your realtor might be telling instead of teaching. A realtor should have the heart of a teacher, somebody who is going to walk you through the process, answer your questions kindly and third. And they're going to anticipate problems that you're going to have and explain the process along the way. They should not be telling you what to do. They should be informing you so you can make the best decision.
I like to call it the freedom of choice with the advantage of advice. That's my role as a loan advisor is to give people the freedom of choice. Here are your choices. Here's everything that you have available to you, but with the advantage of the advice, you get to see the advice that I get to bring to the table on different options as well. But ultimately you get the choice. So you need a realtor who's going to teach instead of telling.
Also, your realtor might just be brandishing their ego all over the place. This is huge, especially with the realtors who say I've been in this industry for 30 plus years and whatever they'll say they want to say about sales, awards, and things. Who cares, right? Realtors very easily can get ego in the way, and that starts to interrupt a deal because all of a sudden, they're not negotiating on your behalf anymore. They're negotiating with their ego.
If they do that, then it can be the potential to add friction into a deal, to add extra stress, and could end up costing you money if they can't negotiate well with that ego. It doesn't make for a good experience for you because you want to feel like a realtor is your advocate, a guide, somebody that's on your side, helping you achieve the things that you want to. Not that the realtor is the shining star in the whole process, and it can be very easy because realtors, have to market themselves.
A lot of realtors think that marketing is talking about how great they are whereas a good realtor should be talking about how great you are as a client and the ways that they can help you accomplish what you want to accomplish.
The last one, your realtor might be selling your home too quickly. This sounds a little counterintuitive. There's a study that actually says realtors list their own homes for sale, and keep them on the market 10 days longer than their clients. And why is that? Because they know that if they wait a little bit longer, they might get more for their home. So just because your homes can sell quickly, it doesn't mean they should so quickly unless you really need that timeline to move a lot quicker.
This goes into that steering thing. Don't let a realtor push you into doing things just because they said so, or just because you feel pressure to. So hopefully this gives you a good idea of some things that realtors might be doing that might not be in your best interest.
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