MEETING WITH MARIHA STEWART

What is Buyer and Seller Agency?

One important thing sellers should know about upfront is the ability to have seller agency. Many people think agents can only work for the buyer, but that’s not true. With a seller agency contract, the realtor is legally obligated to negotiate the best possible price for the seller.

This is opposed to working for the buyer, known as buyer agency, where the agent is obligated to obtain the best price possible for the buyer. When a realtor is working for the seller and the buyer, known as multiple transactions, and the buyer asks the realtor how much the house is worth, the realtor cannot give the buyer a price. With buyer agency, the realtor can run a comparative market analysis (CMA) to determine what other homes in the neighborhood are worth. With buyer agency, the realtor’s duty is to get the buyer the lowest price. With seller agency, the realtor’s duty is to get the seller the highest price.

Buying Your Home with Mariha Stewart

Once agency is decided, the realtor goes through an estimate of how much you can afford, and perhaps more importantly, how much do you want to pay on a monthly basis. It’s also a good idea to go through pre-approval for a mortgage before you go looking because you’re a more attractive buyer when you have financing in place.

Once a price range is decided, the Realtor should ask you some critical questions to get you thinking about the type of house and neighborhood you’d like. Questions to consider include:

• What’s an acceptable drive time to work?
• Do you prefer an urban or rural setting?
• How close do you need to be to schools, churches, shopping?
• What types of amenities do you want? Two-car garage? Three bedrooms? Minimum maintenance?

Ceaseless Showings and Open Houses

The average buyer looks at nineteen houses before they find the one they want to purchase, although everyone is different. A good realtor should act as a mirror and reflect back to the buyers quickly on what’s available. Many buyers quickly learn that they need to prioritize what they must have from what they would like to have but could live without.

The realtor should show you what’s available in the communities you’d like to live in, then set up properties you’re interested in for viewing the inside. A good realtor listens and takes good notes about the houses you look at. The realtor should ask you what you liked and didn’t like about any particular house.

The looking step can last anywhere from two days to several months, but the average is about thirty days. Once you’ve found the house you want, it’s time to make an offer. A professional realtor can help guide you through the buying process. Once you decide you like the house, you need to ask yourself how much it’s worth to you to live there.

How Can Mariha Stewart Help Me Make an Offer?

The agent can then help you draft an offer to purchase, where you can put down contingencies such as financing, home inspection, closing date, and acceptance date. The offer is signed and binding by both the buyer and seller.

Hire a Home Inspector and Close on the House

Over 95% of buyers are using professional inspectors, usually within ten days of the accepted offer. An inspector can help you determine the remaining life of the roof, water heater, and furnace, as well as let you know what maintenance should be done and when. Inspectors really help buyers get a good handle on what they’re buying and allow them to budget accordingly. At this stage, between the accepted offer and closing, the realtor should be following up with you to make sure the loan and the title insurance get completed. Then it’s on to the closing. That’s where your arm gets tired from signing so many papers.