So you're ready to buy a house. How exciting! Naturally, the first thing you do is throw yourself into a full-scale house hunt. You spend hours browsing listing after listing on all the popular sites, falling in love with one house after another, and rejecting a few along the way. You may even stop by a few open-house events if they're close enough, just to see what a favorite of yours looks like in person.

When you finally find a house you think will work for you, you contact the real estate agent listed on the ad and set up a time to meet to view the house. When you fall in love with it - with pre-approved financing, of course - you decide you're ready to make an offer. But who is going to be your agent?

Contrary to the belief of some, the agent listing the property for the seller can also act as agent for the buyer. Be careful though - don't use this as a way to "save" money on the commission. It likely won't work, unless you can negotiate with the seller to reduce the home price in exchange for them having to pay nothing to a buyer's agent - but even then, you'll still need an agent to be present for things like home inspections, and that agent may charge a percentage of the commission. 

This is how many homes are sold. But it doesn't have to be that way. Smart home-owners start by finding a Realtor before they find a house. Here are some advantages:

1) Choices. There is no rule that says you're stuck with the real estate agent who listed the house. And why should you be? While there are some agents out there who are ethical, experienced, and knowledgeable, there are just as many who are simply out to get the highest commission possible, and will do so at the buyer's expense because their priority is to advocate for the seller. Searching for the perfect Realtor before the perfect house will give you time to properly analyze and interview agents to determine the best advocate for you. If you wait until you've found a house, your rush to make sure your bid is in may cloud your judgment and leave you with the wrong agent - and you may lose that house anyway. For more tips on how to find a great Realtor, click here.

2) More access to listings. Realtors have access to MLS - which means they can view more houses for sale than you'll be able to find on all of the home search sites combined. More listings means more choices, which can be overwhelming, but a good Realtor will be able to help you narrow down the types of homes and features you're looking for, and can provide you with a list of homes that meet your needs, wants, and budget.

3) Work smarter, not harder. Seriously, unless you just enjoy browsing home listings online, who actually has time to sift through the thousands upon thousands of available homes in your area to find what you're looking for? Sure, there's tools to help you narrow down your search, but even those can be vague and produce hundreds of results for you to get absorbed in. While it may be a good exercise in the beginning to get a better feel for what you want in a home, once you have an idea it will save you countless hours of time to let your Realtor do the work for you. You're not going to save any money on commission just because you found the home yourself during an online search. Let the Realtor do their job.

4) Better on your budget, and your expectations. Window shopping has a terrible impact on your wallet when it comes to a home. Actually, it has a terrible impact on your budget when shopping for most things. You know what you can afford, and yet you see something else you like that's "just a little bit more money," and then you keep on looking until you find that next step up, then the next, then the next. Finally, you're 20% over your original budget, have no idea why you bought it, and feel depressed because you know you should return it. 

Shopping for a home can create the same sense of depression. You start out looking for that 3-bedroom, 2 bath home for under $250,000. Then you look at the next listing and see a bonus room and a study. You can't live without it. What about the next listing - the one with the huge kitchen island. It's only a little more than your original budget - $265,000. Oh, but what about the next one with the pool - it looks amazing too! It's $300,000 though - but maybe you can talk them down a little...

When you finally find that perfect dream home and realize you can't have it, your happy bubble bursts and the fall back to reality hits hard. You know that any home you find within your budget is just not going to compare, and you feel like you've settled for something less. Working with a Realtor - especially one smart enough to keep your expectations in check -  will help you maintain a realistic view of what you can afford, and help you stay within your budget.

So which comes first - the perfect house or the perfect Realtor?

 

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