Is your Realtor truly acting in your best interest and is your Realtor really earning their commission?!
The average person knows nine Real Estate Agents…so what sets us apart and why should you pick Team Hamilton over the other as the agents you know to represent you in your transactions?
Team Hamilton operates by the motto “We want to be your Realtor for life.” It is not about making a quick commission for us. We want to help our clients make smart financial decisions. We want to make sure you understand everything that is going on during a transaction and we will be with you every step of the way. And we want to make sure you are thinking long term as well.
As a homebuyer—We will show you anything you are interested in looking at…but we will do a lot of up-front investigation to make sure we don’t waste anyone’s time. If the home is on well & septic-we will look for previous records from the county, we review disclosures to make sure the home hasn’t had any issues with mold or water damage—if the home has, is there paperwork to provide proof that the issue has been resolved and is there a warranty? We will look to see what the age of the furnace & A/C units are, look at windows to see if they are old or have broken seals, and look for roof issues—these are big ticket items that will certainly add up down the road. Is that in your budget? If not, we will guide you to start noticing these things and help you find something more updated and move in ready.
Once you find your perfect home and put an offer in, inspection time! We will be present with you at ANY inspection you choose to have during your inspection period. This is not something every agent does. Although we recommend trustworthy and knowledgeable inspectors to check the house out for you, we still make a point to be present to answer any questions or help you understand where we may go from there. For example, say the home has high radon. This is a health and safety concern that needs to be addressed and taken care of by the seller. You may be feeling anxious and freaked out hearing that the home you are purchasing contains particles that can lead to lung cancer. It is our job to help you feel comfortable and not panic over certain issues that are very common and totally fixable. Not to mention, if you have your home listed for sale with us, we also have our Macgyver-Dave as our back up handy man if you need to fix something to get your sale done. Dave has chlorinated numerous wells, fixed leaky toilets, etc. just to help hold deals together 🙂
Negotiating! This is one of our strong suits. You’ll never receive if you do not ask. We are not afraid to negotiate hard for you if a home requires a seller to fix certain issues or contribute money towards the repairs for you to fix later. Inspections are meant to find major health or safety concerns, but we aren’t scared to ask on your behalf. Especially at the appraisal. If the home does not appraise at at least the offer price, we don’t encourage our buyers to put in the difference out of pocket. Years down the road, we do not want you to be in a situation where you’ve over paid and it is not worth that. We operate with honesty and integrity and we would operate the same if acting as the seller’s agent. There are sometimes exceptions to this if a home is in multiple offers and this is your dream home and you feel like you want to strengthen your offer with an appraisal guarantee or putting in a specific $ amount you’d be willing to pay, but this isn’t a typical day to day type situation.
Final walk-throughs—Before closing, we will accompany you to the final walk through to make sure the sellers have removed all their belongings and to make sure you are not stuck dealing with their junk they leave behind. This has happened to us before where we ended up having to escrow money that the seller could not get back until the junk was removed after closing because we did the final walk-through the morning of closing and there was an entire garage full of old building supplies and junk. We will also encourage sellers paying a security deposit if they have occupancy past the closing date to ensure there are funds to take care of any damage that may occur during the time they become renters post-closing.
Building new construction? —We will register you with any builder you are interested in. We will walk through the models with you, meet with the builders with you, and accompany to any design appointments. There is sooo much to know and think about when building new construction and we are there to help you with that process. For example, are there any ongoing assessments for the neighborhood and will you assume those as the buyer? or will the builder pay that off when you move in? Thinking of little items such as better padding under carpeting, pocket doors for ½ bathrooms, double sinks in bathrooms, etc. are little details that make a huge difference. We’ve been through the building process personally and can help give you some pointers.
Resale—Yes you want to pick a home you love for yourself, but as your agent, we want you to start thinking about the future. Will this home be easy for me to resell? The home may have all of the pretty updates but may have a highway you can see from the backyard. We want you to be aware of things that can affect your resale value later down the line. Ultimately, your decision, but we will help you make smart buying decisions.
As your listing agent—we will encourage you to make your home show ready right off the bat. Helping you with organizational and decluttering tips—maybe you need to rent a storage unit and take furniture out, maybe you need to hire a stager to bring in some fresh furniture to make the space more versatile for potential buyers. We will suggest having a pre-inspection in order to address any major items upfront to prevent low ball offers later or hard negotiating during inspection periods. We always have a professional photographer photograph listing, and even have aerial photography if your property is unique.
All of these items may seem fairly simple, but they are things that not every agent will do. We want to earn your trust and constantly prove to you that we will operate with honesty, integrity and with your best interest in mind. We want you to contact us after closing—even if its ten years down the road. If you have an issue and you need help resolving it, if you want to refinance and need some comparables to give to your lender, if you want some advice one what to update for better resale value, etc. We are here and we think of you as friends and clients for life. Thank you for trusting Team Hamilton!