Real estate agents do a lot to earn their commission. In fact, if you’ve never bought a home before, you may not be aware of all that agents do to help home buyers. In addition, each agent is different, and they often take a different approach to get a buyer to the closing table. Still, there are some commonalities among agents. So let’s take a look at the first five things an agent does when helping home buyers in Atlanta.
1. Assistance Getting Pre-approved for a Mortgage
Getting pre-approved for a mortgage is an important first step for home buyers in Atlanta. A pre-approval letter will allow you to be perceived as a serious buyer and will give you more negotiating leverage. And an agent can help you with pre-approval.
A good agent will have a large network of other industry professionals and so can connect you with a trusted mortgage lender. Your agent will also be able to guide you through the process and assist you in assembling all the needed documentation.
2. Finding and Researching Homes
After assisting home buyers with pre-approval, an agent will then locate potential homes that meet buyers’ needs, as well as researching locations and neighborhoods.
House hunting can be an exhausting and lengthy process. Your agent, though, will draw on her expertise to expedite the process and make it more efficient. When you communicate your needs and wants to your agent, she will then counsel you on location, neighborhood, schools, and so on, helping you find homes in locations that meet your specifications.
3. Negotiating the Offer
Next in order of what agents do to help home buyers in Atlanta is negotiate the offer – that is, crafting the offer and then negotiating with the seller to get you the best deal possible.
This is one of the biggest perks of working with an experienced local agent. An agent can perform a comparative market analysis to determine what a home is actually worth with respect to market value. If the seller rejects or counters your offer, your agent can bring to bear her expertise to help you make a counteroffer that is in your best interests. Your agent can also help you get the contingencies that will benefit you the most.
To discover more about what a Atlanta agent can do when it comes to negotiations, just call (404) 977-5054.
4. Help Choosing an Inspector
The home inspection is a step that home buyers should never skip. Good agents, with their broad professional network, can point you toward a qualified and trusted inspector.
Home inspectors, like any other professional, vary drastically in their experience, knowledge, and expertise. So you need to make sure you have one with the best inspection chops to assess the home you’re considering buying. And a good agent can help you select the inspector you need.
5. Attending the Inspection
Similarly, another of the first things an agent does when helping home buyers in Atlanta is to attend the home inspection. Even the best inspectors sometimes miss things, but a good agent, who also has a trained eye with respect to inspection issues, can help ensure the inspector does not miss anything.
In addition, your agent, after attending the inspection, can help you read and decipher the inspection report, which is often difficult for laypeople to read. Without your agent’s input and guidance, you may not realize what you are actually getting into with a particular home.
Where to Find a Great Atlanta Agent
When you consider not just these first five things an agent does, but also all the rest, that agent commission is actually a bargain. But you do need an experienced Atlanta agent to get the full benefit. And we have the agents with the expertise and willingness to help you every step of the way. So if you’re one of the home buyers in Atlanta who want the best in agent assistance, contact us today at (404) 977-5054.