Real Estate & Mortgage Insights

The Real Estate Agent is Your Friend (Really).

One day a young husband came home from work and his wife met him at the door with an excited expression. She was home on maternity leave and had been perusing real estate ads in the newspaper and magazines. The Internet had not taken off yet.

"Call this number," she said.

It was an ad for a house for sale.

"But be careful," she added. "The agent will try to get you to make an..." she paused and looked cautiously from side to side....

"...an appointment."

This is a true story, by the way.

So the husband called the agent to find out where the reasonably priced two-bedroom "starter" home with the "charming back yard perfect for barbecues" was located. The couple liked to barbecue and entertain close friends and relatives.

The agent wanted to "meet" with the couple.

Uh-oh.

When the husband indicated reluctance to meet, the agent gave him the address. He sounded confused.

So the couple went and looked at the outside of the home (because they could not get in without the agent). Two years later, they bought their first home.

Years later, the wife is now a real estate agent and she remembers this first experience vividly.

She realizes she could have probably bought her first home when her child was a baby, if she had just talked to the agent. She now knows what agents really do.

He would have helped them figure out what they could really afford, had them prequalified by a lender, and slowly eased them into being homeowners.

Not like a salesperson, but like an agent working on their behalf.

� January 2004 by RealEstate ABC

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