Your Agent, your Advocate

Armand Ramirez
Realtor Associate

After years of mortgage payments, home improvements, and equity building, you’ve decided to finally sell your home. Your whole family is committed and ready - now you just need an agent. So, you pick up the paper, log on the internet, or just walk into the first Real Estate office you see. You come across a person at so-and-so Realty and strike up a casual conversation. The chemistry seems right, it’s convenient, so you sign a listing agreement and voila, your most valuable asset is for sale with the first agent you’ve met.

THE INSIDER’S RESOURCE Sonoma County’s Realtor’s, Lenders, Fnancial Advosors & more See what they have to say about our Real Estate Market.

Sound ridiculous? I hope so! In your right mind, you’d never choose a listing agent this way – you’d want to see credentials, references, and possibly interview two or three others. Then why, we agents respectfully ask, do most of you choose your buyer’s agent in the manner just described?

So what does a buyer’s agent do for you, and why are they so important? First-time buyers, tune in because you’re in for a quick overview; and for the savvy-‘move-up’ buyers, things may have changed since the last time you signed a FIRPTA.

Locating your property

While finding your home may be the most obvious job of a buyer’s agent, it’s really just the tip of the iceberg. With resources like Realtor.com and craigslist, you as a consumer have access to the residential Real Estate marketplace in a capacity that a Broker 20 years ago could only dream of. In fact, once a home finally goes on MLS, tech-savvy consumers virtually have the same resources to locate a potential property as an agent does. So yes, that metaphorical ‘tip’ has definitely dwindled in the past few years – however, with California’s unprecedented appreciation rates and the advent of its new state pastime (lawsuits), the iceberg looming beneath the surface has grown in equal proportion.

Advocacy: your agent, your advocate.

Do you know what an acceptable nitrate concentration-level is or how to determine if a property is located in a flood plain or special mello-roos district; are you comfortable negotiating zero down purchases via seller credits with the aid of property inspections? If you answered yes, you probably have a Real Estate license yourself! Otherwise, you’ll have to rely on your buyer’s agent for all the above. It’s truly in this stage, the escrow stage, where you’ll see what your agent is made of. Great agents are advocates.

They look forward to tackling a difficult property (helping to determine structural condition, water capacity or CAP rates) – poor agents prefer not to let you know about them. They’ll fight for price reductions on overpriced listings as if it was their dollar being spent – mediocre agents will just tell you it’s out of your price range. Especially in today’s “Buyer’s Market”, a good buyer’s agent is someone you absolutely need in your corner – they’ll aid you in discovering a sound from a poor buy, and demonstrate that an “asking price” is just that – a price that a seller is “asking.” And with today’s prices, your ideal terms and price may just constitute the only scenario possible.

So choose your agent wisely – in a transaction so important you need an advisor and advocate that you have confidence in. Ask for credentials, interview two or three. And when you’re ready to commit, commit. Get an advocate in your corner make the best of our buyer’s market!