5 Ways Home Buyers Can Drive Their Agent Crazy
Home buyers can be very picky when it comes to buying homes and with reason!
This is an investment that will change the course of your life forever.
However, there are a lot of things that home buyers do that make their agent’s job that much harder, thereby putting themselves at a disadvantage!
Let’s not forget: real estate agents are not the enemy: they are there to work with you, the home buyer, in order to find your dream home.
Here are 5 behaviors of home buyers that make their real estate agent’s job much more difficult and drives them crazy when they’re doing it:
#1 — Being unrealistic about the offer
Having a home buyer put in an offer way below the marketed asking price might be frowned upon, but it does happen.
If you think that’s a rather rare situation, you are seriously mistaken – there are quite a number of buyers shopping around and trying their luck with offers of 20-25% below asking price!
Assuming normal conditions (and state of the house itself), the reality is that the seller is not going to drop a quarter of the price just like that.
If anything, there’s a good chance the seller won’t even bother to counter-offer on such a low-ball offer, whereas they might have if the level was more reasonable.
In other words, if you really want to make a lower offer, then you should be more realistic and listen to your real estate agent’s advice.
#2 — Having high-demanding requests
Home buyers have to start somewhere and that is fair. After all, real estate agents are there to assist you with your property questions & needs.
You should, however, be very certain that you are ready to make that purchase before you contact an agent with your list of demands.
Quite often, home buyers will be driving around, seeing some random property that sparked their interest, and insist that the agent provide them with the necessary property research, even though the buyer is realistically months or years away from buying!
Perhaps buyers ought to be more considerate of their requests when speaking to an agent.
#3 — Continuously changing your mind
Sure – the buyer might not necessarily know 100% what they want or might be even more confused by the number of properties available which does make things trickier!
However, what should the real estate agent be doing next when this interested home buyer keeps changing his mind?
Is the property not to his liking? But during yesterday’s showings, he insisted he looooved that style? What type of property should the agent show next?
While it is natural to change your mind a few times during the home buying process, but if you are unfocused and unsure about what you want, perhaps taking some time off and re-assessing your ‘needs’ vs ‘wants’ might be the best plan of action!
#4 — Unnecessary buyer viewings
Have you heard the old adage that a house is like a lady, and a lady never shows more than she wants?
If you’re an interested buyer and believe you’ve found your ‘dream home‘, of course, is it perfectly normal to ask for private viewings of a house!
However, how often is too often?
Some buyers go to private showings with architects, designers and their friends, and continue to measure up every room of the house. Some even bring their psychics along with them to get rid of the ‘bad energy encircling the aura of the building’.
Needless to say, unless there’s a formalized interest in the property (i.e. offer with perhaps some sort of contingency), it might not suitable to keep coming back.
#5 — Shady dealings behind the agent’s back
We all have secrets and we love to have them, but having secrets from your real estate agent is a big no-no!
Open and honest communication is a must, especially when it comes to the negotiating of the price.
Yes, of course, you may ask a seller for some sort of credit if problems arise during the home inspection, but negotiating behind your real estate agent’s back for a lower price is just wrong!
Whereas buying a home is already a stressful time, it only adds so much stress to all the parties involved. Be upfront about your intentions and the next move that you want to make.
Real estate agents go on the journey with you and by making them your enemy, you are only shooting yourself in the foot.
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