Top 10 Benefits of Using a Real Estate Agent to Buy a Home

James D Kuhn

10. Ethical Consideration :-Though not all real estate agents are members of the National  Association of Realtors (NAR), those who do join the group agree to abide by a code of ethics. That code essentially stipulates that Realtors deal with all parties of a transaction honestly. Under the code, the Realtor is obligated to put the clients' interests ahead of his own. He or she is also required to make full disclosure about the problems with a property and be truthful in advertising.

9.Pricing Expertise :-Most real estate agents can set a price on a home the minute they walk through the door. If they have a lot of experience in a market, they know how well a neighborhood holds its value, too. While anyone can spend a few minutes online and pull information on sales of comparable houses, real estate agents have the experience to know whether a specific house is overpriced or underpriced. In the best-case scenario, an agent will have such a good idea of what you're looking for that she won't even waste your time touring houses that won't work.

8. Requesting Repairs:-Often, the touchiest part of a real estate purchase involves the delicate dance of requesting repairs. A real estate agent will be able to identify trouble that you may not see, as well as recommend a good independent home inspector who will provide a detailed report on problems with the house. These reports can be dozens of pages long. Within all those pages, some problems are important and others aren't.

7. Finding Available Homes Though most homes for sale are widely available for buyers to assess on Web sites, in some cases, sellers don't want the fact that they're selling to be widely publicized. In those cases, only the real estate agents know the houses are for sale."Sometimes people don't want it advertised actively," Mendenhall says. "Maybe it's a more for personal reason, that they don't want their neighbors or friends to know that their house is for sale.”

6.Tracking the Paperwork:-If you've ever bought a house, you've probably dedicated a full shelf somewhere to the documents that were involved in the transaction. These probably include the written offer, the written and signed counteroffer, the little details (like specific repairs) and what exactly was and was not included in the sale. The paperwork can be tiresome. This is when a good real estate agent can save the day. Often, these offers and counteroffers are limited by a time frame.

5.The Purple Room Phenomena

Aside from the technical aspects of a sale and the mistakes people can make in the paperwork, real estate agents know neighborhoods and houses inside and out.Mendenhall calls it the "purple room" phenomenon. If a buyer wants a house with a purple room, she says, the experienced real estate agent will know the house that's for sale that has that room. In a more general way, an agent will be aware of features that don't show as well on the Internet. If a buyer is looking for a house with a space that could be used as an office

4. Unemotional Negotiations

As levelheaded as you think you are, when you're fighting with a seller over adding a hose to the dishwasher because the water drains on the floor, it's easy to lose your cool. Having an agent to write the requests objectively and forward them to the seller saves you the trouble of getting overly emotional about the deal. Say the seller won't budge on the dishwasher hose and you want to adjust your offer. The agent can handle that part calmly, too. Experts advise that you let the agent take the heat in difficult.

3.Code Expert:-If you want to buy a charming little house near a business district and turn the front parlor into a candle store, you need to know if the city will allow it. Typically, an experienced real estate agent is familiar enough with local zoning ordinances to make sure you don't buy the wrong house. By the same token, if you want to build a fence in the backyard or add a bedroom, an agent should be able to make sure you're buying a property where the city allows it.

2. Thorough Record Keeping

Although real estate agents aren't lawyers, they can serve as good resources years after a deal is closed. In some states, licensed agents are required to keep full files of all documents in all transactions for several years. While you may (and should) keep files yourself, you can count on your agent to keep that information organized and safeguarded should trouble crop up with the property in years to come. You'll also be able to contact your agent at any time.

1. Avoid closing Problems:-When a sale nears closing, all kind of pitfalls can kill the deal in the final hours. A real estate agent knows to watch for trouble before it's too late. For example, the title of the house may not be clear -- some long-lost relative might be listed on the title who hasn't signed off on the sale. Or maybe the lender is causing a problem by not meeting the timeline on financing."When you're getting close to the closing, you want to make sure there aren't any unexpected title issues, that the financing has come through and that all of the professionals