Being a Realtor is Not as Easy as You Think!

Being a Realtor is not as easy as you think!  I love helping my buyers and sellers, but it can be challenging.  No transaction is the same, and there are always things that come up that must be handled.   Real Estate definitely keeps me on my toes, but I still love what I do.

Here are some of the top issues we Realtors are dealing with these days:

1. Champagne taste on a beer budget.  What buyers want vs. what they can actually afford.  This is not uncommon.  It takes showing enough houses to educate buyers.  Once they have seen enough homes, they usually change their criteria to match what they can afford. It’s important that buyers see enough homes to get an idea of what they can get for their money.  This can be a challenging process, so buyers need to be patient.

2.  Sellers taking permanent fixtures when they move out and it was never in the contract.  A stove, microwave or dishwasher should NEVER be taken.  Many times sellers want to keep some of their light fixtures, curtain rods, etc.  This is fine if you disclose this upfront.   There is nothing worse that doing a final walk-thru finding things missing that were suppose to be there.

3.  When agents go MIA!  This is my biggest pet peeve.  I don’t care what side of the transaction you are on, make sure you keep the lines of communication open.  Agents who go MIA are not helping their clients.  An MIA agent means there is an issue, so communicate what that issue is.   I had a buyer’s agent go MIA on me, and I ended up driving to his office to talk to his Branch Manager because he was not getting back to me.  Real Estate is a small community, so don’t piss off the agents you get into contract with!!!!

4.  When I first start working with buyers, they would send me a list of 20 or 30 properties that the want to see in one day.  Looking at homes can be very tiring and I have found 10 to 12 is really the maximum number of homes to see in one day or maybe less depending on the distance between all the homes.  If they are farther away, then less is better.  Even seeing 10 or 12 homes can be very tiring for all involved.

5.  One of the most frustrating issues to deal with in this market is unrealistic sellers who think their house is worth more what it’s really worth.  This can be a very delicate situation.  Sellers have an emotional connection to the home that they have most likely lived in for a number of years.  They obviously loved it enough to buy it at one time, but their needs or wants have changed.  Data doesn’t lie, so listen to your Realtor!