By guest blogger,
Susan Hartzler
There’s a reason why the October 2017 issue of Mansion Global turned to Cristal Clarke for comments on the Montecito real estate market. Cristal also made the October 8, 2017, issue of The Real Deal: New York Real Estate News. If you’re thinking about buying or selling real estate in Montecito, Hope Ranch or any of Santa Barbara’s upscale communities, make sure you work with an expert like Cristal Clark.
It’s true. Today’s homebuyers and sellers who are considering completing their real estate transactions on their own might save when it comes to the commission but they could end up losing money (and time) in the long run. Buying or selling a home is a major financial (and emotional) undertaking. Here are four reasons you should hire an agent like Cristal Clarke.
- Better Access/More Convenience
A real estate agent’s full-time job is to act as a liaison between buyers and sellers. This means that he or she will have easy access to other properties listed by other agents. Agents for both the buyer’s and seller’s know what needs to be done to get a deal together. For example, if you are looking to buy a home, a real estate agent will track down homes that meet your criteria, get in touch with sellers’ agents and make appointments for you to view the homes. If you are buying on your own, you will have to play this telephone tag yourself.
Similarly, if you are looking to sell your home yourself, you will have to solicit calls from interested parties, answer questions and make appointments. Keep in mind that potential buyers are likely to move on if you tend to be busy or don’t respond quickly enough. Alternatively, you may find yourself making an appointment and rushing home, only to find that no one shows up.
- Negotiating Is Tricky Business
Many people feel that direct negotiation between buyers and sellers is more transparent and allows the parties to better look after their own best interests. This is probably true–assuming that both the buyer and seller in a given transaction are reasonable people who are able to get along. Unfortunately, this isn’t always an easy relationship.
What if you, as a buyer, like a home but despise its wood-paneled walls, shag carpet, and lurid orange kitchen? If you are working with an agent, you can express your contempt for the current owner’s decorating skills and rant about how much it’ll cost you to upgrade the home without insulting the owner. For all you know, the owner’s late mother may have lovingly chosen the décor. Your real estate agent can convey your concerns to the seller’s agent. Acting as a messenger, the agent may be in a better position to negotiate a discount without ruffling the homeowner’s feathers.
A real estate agent can also play the bad guy in a transaction. A seller can reject a potential buyer’s offer for any reason–including just because they dislike him or her. An agent can help by speaking for you in tough transactions and smoothing things over. This can put you in a better position to get the house you want in the Montecito real estate market. The same is true for the seller, who can benefit from a hard-nosed real estate agent who will represent their interests without turning off potential buyers who want to niggle about the price.
- Contracts Can Be Hard to Handle
If you decide to buy or sell a home, the offer to purchase contract is there to protect you and ensure that you’re able to back out of the deal if certain conditions aren’t met. An experienced real estate agent deals with the same contracts and conditions on a regular basis and is familiar with which conditions should be used, when they can safely be removed and how to use the contract to protect you, whether you’re buying or selling your home.
- Real Estate Agents Can’t Lie
If you are working with a licensed real estate agent like Cristal under an agency agreement, your agent will be bound by common law to a fiduciary relationship. In other words, the agent is bound by license law to act in their clients’ best interest (not his or her own).
In addition, most Realtors rely on referrals and repeat business to build the kind of clientele base they’ll need to survive in the business. This means that doing what’s best for their clients should be as important to them as an individual sale.
The Bottom Line
There’s a reason Cristal Clarke is in the news as the expert in the Montecito real estate market. Compare her comprehensive website with the long list of frequently asked questions on most for sale by owner websites and you’ll agree, the process isn’t as simple as many people assume. Before you go it alone, please give her a call at 805.886.9378 or send her an email at Cristal@montecito-estate.com. You’ll be happy you hired Cristal Clarke!