By U.S. News
By Devon Thorsby
Real estate agents see and hear a lot, and while shockingly few things surprise them, there’s a fine line between need-to-know and TMI. But the more transparent a client is during the buying or selling process, the better the broker can meet his or her needs.
Luis D. Ortiz, associate broker at Douglas Elliman Real Estate and star of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing New York,” equates the nitty-gritty details of a seller’s personal life to a doctor visit. When the doctor asks how often you drink, “everybody says ‘socially’ when really they drink every night,” Ortiz says. “The more transparent you are of a person, the more they can get to the core of the problem.”
To get the most out of your relationship with your real estate agent, avoid these red flags that can end up landing you with the wrong agent or the right one running for the hills.
Telling an Agent You’re Not Sure About Selling
Agents typically don’t collect a fee until their client either sells his or her current home or purchases a new one. Any time and money spent before then on marketing and other services is out of the agent’s pocket. Simply dipping your toes in the water to see if your house generates interest — and then pulling back — isn’t going to be very enticing for a broker.
“I’m not sure I’m going to take that seller on as a client,” says Greg Cooper, manager and broker at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services in Indianapolis. “The process costs everybody time and money, so why waste it unnecessarily?”
And as Ortiz points out, putting your house on the market experimentally can have adverse effects on other homes that are actually for sale. “It gives the buyers [a] perception that the apartment is not sellable [or] that the market may be turning into a buyer’s market,” Ortiz says.
Saying You Don’t Have a Time Frame
Not having a deadline can leave brokers unsure of your commitment. Agents understand when their clients have a strict time frame, and can appreciate a few extra days or weeks to close a deal on the right home. But being told they have no target date to sell or purchase a home will leave them wondering if they’re wasting their efforts.
Cooper says serious homebuyers will typically have a reason, such as a growing family or moving for a job, that brings about the change in living situation. A lack of deadline puts up a flag that you may also lack commitment to carrying out a deal. “My question for them would be, ‘Why do you have all the time in the world? What are you trying to accomplish?’ That goes back to, ‘We’re not really sure what we want to do,’ and that’s just not a situation, in all candor, that’s beneficial 98 percent of the time to the client and the broker,” Cooper says.
One of the first questions Ortiz asks on any listing appointment is …read more
From:: Buying and Selling