When buying or selling property, working with a realtor is better than going it alone

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Mortgage broker Tracy Head advises her clients to work with realtors when buying or selling property because of the expertise they bring to transactions.

When I work with clients who say they are writing an offer on a private sale, I always talk about the benefits of working with a realtor.

Realtors do so much legwork behind the scenes that clients aren’t aware of. Most times it is challenging on my end when clients try to tackle the process of writing an offer on a private sale themselves. I joke and say I am going to charge them an extra fee because of the additional work it creates on my end. I don’t actually charge a fee to be clear but I am only half kidding.

When you start down the road of buying a home there are many new and unfamiliar terms you may hear. Whether you are working with a realtor or not, arguably some of the most important things you need to learn about are the “subject to” conditions to include in your offer to purchase.

When you write an offer to purchase a home, your realtor will offer guidance as to the conditions you include. Common conditions you will see are:

• Subject to arranging suitable financing

• Subject to a satisfactory home inspection

• Subject to arranging home insurance

• Subject to review of strata documents

• Subject to the sale of your current home

If you are purchasing a rural property or are in a unique situation you may also see:

• Subject to a water potability test

• Subject to an inspection of the septic system

• Subject to the seller finding a suitable home to purchase

These lists are not all-encompassing by any means.

The purpose of adding conditions to your offer is to protect you in case there are any issues with the home you are looking to purchase.

In previous columns I’ve written about the potential dangers of writing a subject-free offer. The high-level, quick position is that if you write a subject-free offer you’d better have cash on hand to buy the home.

I have worked with several clients over the last few months who have written private offers. We do absolutely everything ahead of time to try to ensure they will be successful with their financing.

These files stress clients more than you can imagine. They have to either find templates to fill out or pay a lawyer or notary to prepare the documents for them. Either way they need to quickly learn about the conditions I listed above and understand key dates involved in the buying process.

The clients need to deal directly with the sellers on any issues that may arise. When you are working with a realtor they handle these issues on your behalf. A knowledgeable realtor also helps avoid issues by taking any of the personal contact and emotions out of any potential areas of conflict.

Make sure you do your due diligence and have your ducks in a row as you move forward with an offer to purchase, whether writing an offer with a realtor or on your own.

Now that the sun has come out and the election is over, I’ve seen my clients more actively shopping, which is encouraging.

As always, my advice is to work with a realtor you are comfortable with and who knows your area well.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.