In Part 1 of the Home Buyer Guide, I stressed the importance of shopping your financing options and getting approved for a loan.  Once buyers are qualified they are usually excited to go shopping but they need to make sure they are ready to buy before they waste any time looking around.

In Part 2, we explored when it would be a good time to go shopping for your first home.

In this part of the series, we will chat about hiring a buyer’s agent.

One thing unusual about this current the market is the high amount of distressed properties (REO aka Bank Owned & Short Sale).

The first thing a buyer needs to do when they are ready to search is find an agent who is flexible and has experience in many types of transactions.  These transactions are very complicated and many things can happen to make it go sideways.  You will want them experienced with many types of transactions like New Construction, Trustee Sale Flips (and more!).  They will need to be aggressive and have tools such as docusign (electronic signatures) in order to get offers submitted quickly as well priced

One other thing you want to be concerned with is how much an agent charges for their services.  Yes, seller’s usually pay our commission, HOWEVER, sometimes fees are added on to the service.  Make sure before you enter into a relationship with the agent that you are very clear on what those fees are.  They are usually in the form of flat fees added into your closing costs.  You may ask if there are any “transaction, warehousing, storing, etc fees”.

When you have a comprehensive interview questionnaire put together (in regards to experience, dedication, fees, etc) you may wonder where you can find your next agent:

• Ask family friends who have recently closed a  home if their experience was good and if they recommend their agent.
• Search area real estate blogs at bing, google, yahoo or search engine of choice.
• Visit open houses to meet agents face to face
• Attend first time buyer seminars hosted by lenders, agents or title companies to meet agents
• Call numbers on “for sale” signs

In conclusion here are the items that should be on the interview list:

• Experience (years, transaction types?)  Be careful, some agents may be licensed for ten years but have only closed two transactions in that time frame!  Some newer agents with closed business are phenomenal because this environment is “all they know”!
• How many and what types of transactions have you closed in the last year?
• Dedication (full time or team oriented?)  Part time is OK when in a team environment or partnered with someone to assist.
• Fees (transaction, warehousing, storage?)

Make sure you do your due diligence with hiring a strong agent.  In this environment, there will be many bumps in the road and it could be a long ride.  You will want to be very comfortable with them and trust them to guide you through the entire transaction as smoothly as possible!