You found your dream home online and now you want to see it.
You call the phone number listed on the website and get a REALTOR. You inquire about the property and request to see it right away. The REALTOR insists upon first meeting in their office prior to showing you the property. Despite your protests, the REALTOR is insistent upon the meeting.
You hang up, frustrated, immediately calling another REALTOR you find online. The second REALTOR requests the same first meeting, you only want to see this house yet none of the REALTORS want to show it to you. Or do they? The reality is that meeting with a REALTOR prior to seeing a property is a proven method of helping you, the consumer, have a better real estate buying experience.
The True Professionalism of a Consulation
Buyer Consultations are not a new concept, they have been around for as long as real estate agents have helped people purchase real estate. The purpose of a Buyer Consultation is to let a real estate professional understand your needs, determine what your requirements are for a property, review the process and procedures of a real estate purchase and help you determine what your purchasing power is. The result of a consultation is proven to be a far less frustrating real estate purchasing experience.
Why do most consumers get defensive when a REALTOR requests a meeting first? There is a conditioning in the society to believe that a REALTOR offers no value other than the ability to open a door and allow you to view a house. That is far from the scope of what a real estate professional does, in fact it is the tiniest portion of the work they do. Understanding the real value of using a real estate professional will help you, the home buyer, truly appreciate what it means to have an Agent who represents you in your real estate purchase.
The first step to understanding this is to meet with an experienced REALTOR and review your needs, as well as mutually set communication expectations and review the process. Despite your apprehensions to slow down and step back when you feel like you are ready to go, you need to overcome the urgency to determine what is truly important, realistic and reasonable for your market place. A REALTOR will ask you questions about what you are looking for, should take extensive notes, be able to introduce you to their business partners such as loan officers and title representatives, who all play an essential role in getting you from this appointment to home ownership.
A Good REALTOR Makes the Process Seem Effortless
If a REALTOR is good at what they do, you will believe the process to me mostly effortless, because their job is to keep things on track and make sure no obstacles pop up on your way to your closing on the new home of your dreams.
Remember, perception isn’t always reality, while a REALTOR may have to jump through hoops, make many trips to the property without you, facilitate papers being sent to many different parties involved, to get you to that exciting moment when you get the keys, their job isn’t to show you all those things and perhaps that is part of the problem with public perception. Just like a great magician, the trick should be effortless and impossible to see all the work that goes into making it happen.
The next time a REALTOR wants to meet with you before showing you a house, be confident that you have a true professional, focused on your needs, and not just someone who is opening doors so you can browse through a house that might not be right for you.
