Evergreen, Colorado is a beautiful place a lot of people would enjoy living in, especially those who love the mountain views. A lot of people from different states move to Evergreen for this reason and more! It can be hard to look for Evergreen Co homes for sale, especially if it’s your first time getting your own property. If that’s the case, you’ll need the help of a professional real estate agent so you won’t regret your decision.
While doing the work yourself can help you save the significant commission rates a lot of real estate agents require, flying solo may not be the best way to go. You could end up spending more money than paying for a realtor’s commission. Buying and/or selling a home is a big financial undertaking. Below are why you shouldn’t discard the idea of hiring a real estate agent.
Why do you need a real estate agent when looking for Evergreen Co homes for sale?
Evergreen is a niche market, and the homes there are considered mountain properties. These properties can be considerably more complex than city properties that might have septic systems, wells, private roads, shared driveways, and much more. An experienced Evergreen realtor knows the area and the properties better than anyone.
Convenience
A real estate agent needs to act as a liaison between the buyer and seller. This means that he or she will have access to the properties listed by other agents. Real estate agents work full time and know what needs to be done to get a deal together. For instance, if you’re looking for Evergreen Co homes for sale, you should get in touch with the seller’s agent and make appointments to view the homes. If you do it alone, you’ll need to play this telephone tag by yourself. This can be hard if you’re looking for homes that are for sale by owner.
Negotiating isn’t simple
You may be one of those people who hate the idea of doing a real estate deal through an agent and think that negotiations between the buyer and seller are better, but this isn’t true all the time. What if you, as a buyer, like a home but also hate the wood-paneled walls, lurid orange kitchen, and cheap carpet? If you’re working with an agent, you can tell him or her about what you feel, and perhaps rant about the possible costs to upgrade the home without insulting the owner. The agent will then convey your concerns to the owner’s agent – acting as a messenger.
A real estate agent can also help prevent bad blood between the buyer and seller that may kill a deal. A seller can reject a potential buyer’s offer for whatever reason, but an agent can help by speaking for you and smoothen things over to keep the transaction from getting too personal. This can even put you in a better position to get the home you want.
Contracts aren’t easy to handle
If you’re looking for Evergreen Co homes for sale, the offer to purchase contracts is there to ensure that you’re able to back out of the deal if some conditions aren’t met. For instance, if you want to buy a home with a mortgage but you are unable to make financing one of the conditions of the sale, and you’re not approved of the mortgage, then you can lose your deposit on the home. You can even be sued by the owner if you fail to fulfill your end of the contract.
This is where an experienced real estate agent can help you. He or she deals with the same contracts and conditions regularly and is familiar with which conditions need to be used when they can be removed, and how to use the contract to protect you as the buyer.
Real estate agents don’t lie
Real estate agents can lie, but they’re not allowed to. They are licensed professionals, and there are a lot of repercussions if they do.
So, if you’re working with a licensed real estate agent, your agent is bound by common law to a fiduciary relationship. In short, he or she is bound by licensed law to act in their client’s best interest.
Moreover, most realtors rely on referrals to build the kind of clientele base they need to stay in this business. This means that they need to do what’s best for their clients, and this should be as important to them as any individual sale.
Lastly, if you find that your agent has lied to you, you’ll have more avenues for recourse, through your agent’s broker, professional association, or even in court, if you can prove that the agent failed to uphold his fiduciary duties.
When both the buyer and the seller work together, they can seek legal counsel, but they are expected to act in their best interests.
There isn’t much that you can do if later on, you find that you’ve been duped about other offers or the home’s condition. Having a lawyer to talk about buying the house can be more expensive than an agent’s commissions by the time the transaction is complete.
Not everyone can reduce costs
A lot of people avoid hiring a real estate agent to reduce the costs when looking for Evergreen Co homes for sale. But keep in mind that it’s unlikely that both the buyer and seller can reap the benefits of not paying commissions. For instance, if you’re buying a new home on your own, the price is based on the sale prices of other comparable properties in the area, and many of these properties will be sold with an agent’s help. This means that the seller will keep the percentage of the home’s sale price.
However, buyers who want to purchase a home sold by owners may think that they can save money on the home by not involving an agent. But unless they both agree to split the savings, they can never save the commission.