Buying or selling a home – one of the most stressful and complex financial transactions most of us will ever make – is best done with a professional. Why? We reached out to several agents at HELEN ADAMS REALTY, a family-owned real estate firm, for their intel on the advantages of working with a local Realtor® so you don’t leave money on the table.
The Charlotte Market Requires an Expert REALTOR®
Having an agent with you on your journey is invaluable; when it comes to moving homes – most of the time you don’t even know what you don’t know. For example, if you can’t spot a micro-market, or do not possess a clear sense of seasonal buying patterns, then chances are you need a Realtor by your side.
Ten years is the average time between buying and selling a home; it isn’t an everyday occurrence for most people, but it is for a professional real estate agent. These transactions are complicated, carry inherent financial and emotional risk, and can be messy.
Jill Miller and Stevee Baskerville of The Miller Baskerville Team at Helen Adams Realty say, “The Charlotte market is very fast paced and competitive, so having an agent with long-term relationships and knowledge of the houses and neighborhoods that have sold, and nuances of each is imperative to understanding the market, prices, and what it takes to make a good housing decision.”
While numbers are essential, including dollars, and data on everything from a zip code analysis to days on market, the value lies in knowing how to use the information and specifically align it with your needs.
“An agent who has local market knowledge about different neighborhood trends, upcoming developments, schools, community involvement, etc. will be a great resource to a buyer or seller who is trying to make the best financial decision,” shares Marcia Folnsbee of Helen Adams Realty’s Fort Mill Office.
Keep It Professional
Needing to know your stuff is an understatement when it comes to everything an agent does during a real estate transaction – and more importantly, everything an agent does for you.
If the transaction has agents representing both sides of the deal, everything from negotiations and contract review to closing tends to run smoother – and stays fair and competitive. If one party is represented and the other is not, odds are high that the party with professional presentation will walk away with the better deal.
Working with an agent also can identify previously unknown opportunities.
Marcia shares, “A recent buyer lost out in multiple offers on a new construction home. I talked at length with the builder’s agent and together, we discovered another home coming in the builder’s pipeline that turned out to be a perfect match for my clients. We went under contract the first day the builder put it on the market because we had already done our research and were 100% ready!”
Diane Kilroy, Helen Adams Realty, Ballantyne Office, agrees, adding, “Often buyers and sellers think that they can save money by working out a ‘deal’ on their own. Very few times does it work out for either side. I know a family that has been looking on their own for four years. They haven’t saved any money, because they haven’t come to terms on a home. Typically, a seller who is represented would prefer to work with a buyer’s agent, and that includes new construction.”
Working with an agent helps you stay informed, keeps your best interests as the top priority, and ensures all of the options are being considered – this is ultimately what leads to a happy sale and a happy home.
“I have learned that when working with a seller, setting expectations, and offering a competitive market analysis and a comparative market analysis is crucial. Asking questions and establishing a professional relationship with the agent on the other side of the transaction is critical,” Grissell Alegria, Helen Adams Realty, Lake Norman Office.
When It Comes to a Contract, You Need to Be Confident
Fine print, fast-moving, financial… what could go wrong when those three things get together? The answer: A lot.
Real estate is a heavily regulated industry so unless you’re up on all the nuances of the Carolinas’ contingencies, inclusions and exclusions, and 100% know what to disclose, make sure you have someone in your corner who does.
Your real estate agent is there to ensure that everything that can go wrong, won’t go wrong…deciphering disclosure documents, reading between the lines of inspection reports, and understanding the nuances of the market so you can buy a home with confidence.
Grissell says, “Contracts in North Carolina are complex but can be broken down into five terms: price, dates, terms, inclusion, exclusion, and contingencies. These negotiated terms are meant to be handled with experience, expertise, and deep-market smarts. These nuances are aspects I love about my job.”
Sorting through a home-sale contract isn’t something you want to try and tackle over your breakfast bowl. Setting aside the fact you could find yourself in a multiple-offer situation, you need someone with a strategy who can make sure you don’t overpay or underestimate a detail that could turn out to be an unwelcome contract contingency.
The North Carolina Real Estate Commission updates the base contract annually often shifting understanding and impact for both buyers and sellers with details varying greatly between N.C and S.C.
“We spend a lot of time going over buyer agency agreements, listing agreements, and the contract documents. With more than 20 years of experience working on the real estate contract we understand the nitty gritty and explain it in ways that are understandable so the buyer has a full understanding of their rights, responsibilities, and details of the contract,” explain Jill Miller and Stevee Baskerville.
Close the Deal
Partnering with a real estate agent doesn’t mean you’re losing control. It’s actually what keeps you in the driver’s seat – with the directions constantly changing, you need a navigator you can trust and who you know will get you to the destination of your new home on budget and on time.
According to the National Asscoiation of Realtors, the median sold price of a for-sale-by-owner home is $310,000 while the median sold price of agent-assisted home sale is $405,000. Your greatest expense when selling a home is often the money you don’t make.
“Buying a home hits all the triggers – emotion, finances, time crunches. As agents, our job is to make the process easier and more fruitful for our clients, and handle the more difficult aspects so they don’t have to. Having a real estate professional whose full-time job is to serve buyers and sellers makes the transaction and transition of homes look easy,” say Jill Miller and Stevee Baskerville.
Finding the right real estate agent also means more available resources than the average person who doesn’t work in real estate has access to – whether that’s connecting you with vendors who do great work at a great price, walking you through what you can truly afford at closing and beyond, and knowing the real reason why that house sold for that price.
Jill Miller and Stevee Baskerville conclude, “We’ve done it all! Most recently we went on the hunt to help a client find a home for their horse and donkey”… and if that doesn’t make you realize the value a real estate agent brings we’re not sure what will.
“An agent will keep the buyers’ needs top of mind throughout the entire transaction. While we may play devil’s advocate from time-to-time, that is to anticipate how the seller will respond, and we know that in order to get what we want for the buyer, the seller needs to feel a bit of a win as well. We do all of this keeping in mind the rules and laws in place to protect our clients,” Diane Kilroy.
