What Real Estate Agents Wish They Could Tell Their Clients

By Realty Times Published Nov 27, 2021 09:15 am

It’s not always easy to work in real estate. Home prices continue to rise throughout most of the country, interest rates are low and inventory is tight. It’s a prime market for sellers and not so much for buyers. There’s a lot of anxiety and frustration for buyers and their agents, particularly with the prevalence of bidding wars.

Regardless of which end of the transaction you might be on—buyer or seller—working with an agent who’s knowledgeable and experienced is one of the best things you can do to navigate this complex market.

With that being said, as frustrated as you could be about certain things, there are likely things your agent wish you knew, or they could tell you as well.

Don’t Contact Any Other Agents Once You’ve Started Working With Someone

Once you start working with an agent to buy a home or sell yours, you’re usually entering a contract with them. It’s an exclusive buyer or seller representation agreement. Don’t call the real estate agent on the sign if you see a house you like. Call your agent and tell them.

Your realtor is your representative for any purchase or sale.

They’re meant to carry you through the legal and financial steps of buying or selling.

While you’re obviously concerned with your needs, it’s good to think about things from the perspective of your agent too. If you go to another agent and end up writing a contract, let’s say, then your agent doesn’t receive any money for the time or effort they spent working with you. If you decide that you aren’t ready to buy or sell or something changes, let your agent know right away.

If You’re a Seller, Make It Easy to Sell Your Home

Even the best agent isn’t going to have an easy time selling your home if you’re not upholding your end of things. That means you try and keep your home as presentable as possible, including very clean, while it’s on the market. You should also try and work around your agent and the buyers’ schedules as much as possible.

Try to avoid being onsite during showings, and ensure your pets are put away and taken care of before a showing.

Your Expectations Might Be Unreasonable

If you were in a buyer’s market, you could get away with having higher standards, but in the current environment, you’re very likely to have to lower your standards.

Things may gradually change over the next couple of years, but for the time being, your agent probably wishes they could directly tell you that it’s time to take some things off your wish list and be a little less picky.

If you want a home that needs zero work, you’re going to pay a premium. Even fixer-uppers may not be extremely cheap right now.

Real Estate Agents Aren’t Experts in Everything

There are a lot of things your agent is going to be great at helping you with. They know the market, and they can help you with things like pricing and negotiations. You also have to realize there are limitations to their expertise. For example, your agent probably can’t tell you if something is built to code or what it might cost you to take on a large-scale project.

They might have an idea, but it’s not what they specialize in.

Rather than thinking your agent will have every answer, you can expect that they can refer you to great experts in the areas where you need help.

Don’t Say You’re a Motivated Buyer If You Aren’t

If you talk to any real estate agent, they’re going to have at least one and often many more stories about situations where they’ve worked with buyers and then ultimately, they had no intention of making a purchase.

There are legitimate reasons you might take a long time to buy something or things can change, but if you’re just killing time by looking at houses, it’s disrespectful to the agent who’s taking their time to work with you.

Stop Lowballing Just Because

Finally, some buyers are deadest on not paying the listing price. No one wants to pay more than a house is worth, and that’s normal, but you also have to understand the market and realize that sometimes you have to pay the market value of a home if you want it.