Advantage: Incumbent Realtor
Want one more reason to hire the seasoned, local Realtor (vs., say, your high school buddy, or your first cousin’s best friend’s uncle?).
Not only will they get you the best possible deal in today’s fast-paced housing market — but they may very well save it once it progresses to the critical financing stage.
Getting Past the Appraisal
How’s that?
The local pro knows two things that the novice doesn’t.
One. Details about the most recent, nearby sales.
Like, which house (badly) needed a brand new Kitchen?
And, which house just had one put in?
Just knowing a home’s age, foundation size, and square feet — the information that sites like Trulia and Zillow rely on — tells you nothing about a home’s floor plan, updates (or not), and condition.
The experienced local Realtor can rattle off all that info because they’ve seen the relevant homes — or sold them.
Two. The experienced agent knows — and can help supply — what the appraiser needs, in the vernacular they need it.
What’s that?
Three good “Comp’s,” or Comparable Sold Properties, to price off of.
In a process called “bracketing,” the appraiser compares and contrasts the home being sold (called “the subject home”) to the Comp’s through a series of adjustments (see, “Bracketing Explained“).
Knowing which homes belong in the appraiser’s analysis, and how they stack up against the subject home, can be the difference between the Buyer getting their mortgage . . . or not.
