Planning Ahead

    Planning ahead is something I find a lot of buyers take for granted and that is a huge mistake! Planning ahead is extremely important when you want to go out and see homes. As a Realtor I get calls all the time from buyers who want to view homes the same day they call me and that's just not possible. What you have to understand is that Realtors have schedules, we have meetings, other appointments, sometime our schedules are full for the day, etc. and it's important for us to keep everything on schedule and set appointments.
Meeting buyers in person to discus exactly what you're looking for, to insure you're approved to buy a home and to set appointments to view the homes you want to see is crucial. For example, a home you want to see may be occupied by a seller and some sellers require you to set a 3 hour ahead appointment or the home may not even be available anymore and the Realtor your calling has to wait to get a call back from someone else to make sure.
Not only is it important for those reasons but it's also important for safety and contractual issues…Imagine, someone calls you at 11am and wants you to meet them at a home at 12noon…how do you know this person is who they say they are? I guess you would just have to trust a complete stranger, RIGHT? That doesn't sound too smart to me. Meeting a buyer at our office for the first time allows us to verify that you are who you say you are. As for the contractual issues, our buyers should have buyer agency agreements with us. If they don't that means that they could buy a home and we would not get paid even though we showed them homes all day. And you have to face reality, Realtors don't work for free. So having a buyer agency agreement in play helps prevent this issue.
So remember, if you see a home you like you need to, find a Realtor, establish a relationship with them and schedule a time ahead of time to look at properties.
                Go to www.ShanellRobinson.LNF.com to view my current office listings, search for homes and MUCH more!
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