- Agents are paid a salary by the brokerage and the commission is ‘extra’
Guess what? The agent only gets paid at the end of the transaction through a commission and typically by the seller. Meanwhile, the best agents will work their tails off to get buyers their dream houses.
That usually entails at least 20 trips back and forth to show buyers homes, finding out answers to the buyers’ questions, triangulating between the listing agent, homeowners association, county and city, researching public records, making phone calls to the mortgage lender.
Agents then spend the time explaining how all this works to the buyers, write offer after offer and cancel or rearranging personal plans so that we can show the buyer a house so they don’t miss out.
All of that is done without a paycheck the day the agent starts working with the buyer.
- Every home that’s for sale can be found on consumer websites
Not exactly. You see most multiple listing services (MLS) share their database of properties for sale (and rent) through a feed that syndicates to numerous websites.
Not all of these websites update regularly or show the true status of a property.
In fact, most times properties that are shown for sale that are in fact no longer available and are under contract or sold.
So, by relying on consumer websites, you could be missing out on a hot new listing that just hit the market before it shows up on sites other than the MLS.
- There is nothing wrong with calling listing agents to see if homes we are interested in if our agent is not available
A buyer should and must call their buyer agent to see a property.
Remember, a listing agent’s job is to represent the seller and the seller only. If a buyer has an agent, they need to work through their agent for all showings.
- A house ‘passes’ or ‘fails’ an inspection
False. The purpose of a home inspection is to provide an overview of the home’s condition at the day/time the home was inspected, along with an assessment of each component in the home as to whether it is functioning in the manner which it was intended to do. There is no pass or fail grade.
- A buyer can and should ask for every item found on an inspection report to be fixed, whether it is an actual repair or even cosmetic in nature
Just because an inspector puts it on a report does not mean it is something that has to be requested or addressed.
While a buyer should discuss with their agent what repairs — if any — should be addressed by the seller, this is another negotiation point in the transaction that could involve some back-and-forth, depending on what is being requested.
It will likely be a compromise. If an item is a suggested improvement — such as adding gutters, this is something the seller will likely not do.
- The lower I offer, the more the seller will come off of their asking price
Typically, the lower the offer means the less the seller will counter that offer, or in some cases, the seller may be offended and not respond at all.
Unless it is truly justified, offering a significantly lower price can put the seller off. They may think the buyer is not serious and completely shut down.
- The bank will send someone out to tell me if I’m paying too much
Not exactly. The lender doing your mortgage loan will send out an appraiser to conduct a valuation of the property for the bank that will be providing the loan.
The appraiser will not tell the buyer what to pay.
If an appraisal comes in at less than the price you are paying for the home, that does not obligate you to buy the house, but at the same time, that does not mean the seller must sell it to you at the appraised value.
This becomes a renegotiation point between the buyer and seller.
