Your Exceptional Life

With the way the economy is going, everyone is cutting costs. As part of my body for life regiment, I eat a snack of beef jerky daily. Yesterday I bought a slab of brisket to make my own. I’m planting my own vegetable garden so I don’t have to buy them this summer. The learning curve on the garden is brutal and I’m sure I will make mistakes, but hopefully I’ll get more right than wrong and I’ll come out a little ahead. I’m all for cutting costs, but cost you shouldn’t cut is a real estate agent. Remember back in the late 90’s when you couldn’t miss in the stock market? Everybody fired their broker because they thought that the broker added no value. Then the market changed and people got whacked. I talked to a guy last week that lost $150,000.00 in 2000-2001. He still hasn’t made it back and he hasn’t figured out he needs a broker who’s dialed into the markets. There’s a lot out there on the internet and I’ve read some articles and blogs recently saying you don’t need a real estate agent. I couldn’t disagree more. You can go onto the internet and plug in realtor.com and get the same information that’s on the MLS, that’s true. You can’t know that the home you’re looking at for $540k was previously listed at $650k or $350k. You can’t know that the owner has been making payments on two houses for six months and will take any offer. And do you really think you can fill out the 12, 13, 14 however many page it is contract all by your lonesome and have it bulletproof? Do you know what a decent earnest money deposit is? Do you know what’s customary for your area? Do you know that the title company isn’t going to hold your hand just because you don’t know what you’re doing? Do you know that you’ll get less for your house because you don’t have an agent? Now why are you doing this?

If you’re the purchaser, your agent will save you money. In my most recent transaction, my agent Bob Whitfield, made me money. He got in front of the seller and sold her on my deal. It was low. The house appraised a year earlier for $620k. The world had changed. I got it for $489k with credits. He probably saved me around $20k, just by breathing air. Bob did things that I wouldn’t have thought of on my own, but were second nature to him and in the end saved me a lot of money. I can afford to lose a few tomatoes, I can’t afford to lose on a home purchase.  He found this place, it wasn’t on realtor.com. He earned every penny of his commission. He recommended a contractor inspection due to the run down condition. He was right, I went in knowing exactly what I needed. He had a trustworthy contractor. Anyone that’s ever worked with a contractor knows that’s worth the price in gold. We got $11k in credits for the condition of the place. Are you that comfortable negotiating? Do you know that the sellers will tell you to go pound salt if they think you’re taking advantage of them and kill the deal? But bring in a smart negotiator and they’ll listen, even to a low ball offer. That’s why you need an agent, now more than ever.