The Dancing Banana -- revisited

Do you remember that Dancing Banana on YouTube from, like, 10 years ago?  The video featuring a cartoon banana, the victim of poorer than poor graphics (even for the time!), who danced to "It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time?" 

Well apparently I do.  Last week, while trying to make dinner for my hungry and screaming cubs, that silly banana danced right into my head.  From out of nowhere.  In the moment, amid the screams and smell of burning whatever-it-was, that dancing banana appeared to me like a mirage in the desert.  And in a moment of desperate parenting, I pulled it up on the computer for them.

It did the job.  And now, a week later, this is what we're faced with at bedtime:

Happy Wordless Wednesday!  As you can see, there is never a wordless day around here!  :)

What's the value in YOUR job?

I love working with buyers.  There's just something about helping people find their dream home -- a place they can be proud of and call their own. 

A place they take pride in making their own through their own personal decorative touches, landscaping, and improvements. 

A place they can live their lives in, raise their families in, laugh in and cry in. 

And all at a price they can comfortably afford.

In order to do that, I have to be a true expert in my local market.  I need to know neighborhoods inside and out, and know what properties are doing there and when. 

And I love that, through my hard work, I can help save people with a dream to own a home (the classic "American Dream") from overspending on that home ... and getting themselves into trouble later down the road.

Who wouldn't want that?

So you can imagine my surprise when people call me to show them homes -- yet don't want to be represented in the transaction.  I actually had someone tell me a few months back that there was no value in my job.  That people can easily look at pictures of homes online and find their own. 

Well, that's partly true -- the part about being able to go online and look at pictures of homes.  Of course you can!  You can even map homes and see their sale history, if you know where to look (many people don't).

But I think there are a few misconceptions that people have about buyer's agents.  I'd like to briefly address the "fictions" and 'facts" about buyer's agents.

1. FICTION: You have to pay for a buyer's agents.  FACT: Buyer's agents work for FREE (yes, FREE) ... until you buy something.
2. FICTION: Buyer's agents do little more than look at homes online (which anyone can do form their own computer).  FACT: We do a lot more than that.  Buyer's agents are experts in neighborhoods and spend a lot of time analyzing market trends, home prices, inventory, sales histories, comparable properties.  They know what a homes real value in the market is (I'll blog more about this later, as it is it's own post entirely).  Realtors also have MLS access, which is far more up-to-date and accurate than other real estate Web sites out there (even your favorite ones). 
3. FICTION: Finding a home is the hardest part.  Once you find the home, you buy it and that's the end.  FACT: Finding the home is the easiest part.  Buying a home is a whole other animal.  It's not like buying a couch.  There's negotiations ...contracts ... inspections .. appraisals ... and the myriad of things that can go wrong with all of them.  (What happens if the house doesn't appraise for what you, unrepresented by an agent, agreed to pay for it?  What happens when something goes wrong with the inspection?  What happens if the seller wants to back out at the last minute?)  Don't think these things don't happen -- I see it every day.

The truth is, having a trusted buyer's agent represent you -- whether your buying your first home or your 10th -- is the best decision you can make once you've decided to buy.  It's 100% free -- and will actually SAVE you money, stress, and potential heartache in the end.  Yes, you can still look for homes online -- go crazy!  Yes, you can still stake out neighborhoods and go to all the open houses you want on weekends.

Just do it all knowing you've got an agent looking out for you.  ;)