In the spirit of Halloween, let's break down some scary mistakes Real Estate Agents and Brokers can make in THIS market.
#1 Not Knowing Your Client's UPDATED Purchasing Power
Have you been working with the same buyers since 2020 or 2021? Hopefully they're not walking around with a pre-approval that was run 6 months ago. Even a 3 month old pre-approval could be outdated in this market. Why is this scary?
Well, if your client was pre-approved with a 4.8% interest rate 8 months ago on a $500K home their monthly payment could have been $2,623/M. That same home with a new interest rate of 7.5% could be a monthly payment of $3,496. For many home buyers...that's just not an option. That change could easily KILL THE DEAL! 😱
*We aren't mortgage lenders, these are rough numbers to help illustrate why your clients NEED to have updated numbers to go shopping.
#2 No Educating Your Sellers On The Current Market (Yesterday's Price is NOT Today's Price)
There are still homeowners out there who believe they can get 70+ above asking price offers on their semi-updated home. That's just not the case right now – in many markets. Is it still a great time to sell – definitely, but you've got to be clear with your seller clients about the current state of the market and what that means for their home. Including what shopping for a home will be like on the other side of the transaction.
#3 Not Locking In The Rate
More often than not, in this particular market, if your buyer is serious, it's going to be a good idea to LOCK IN THAT RATE! Yes, there will be a cost associated with it, but if you read mistake #1 you understand how detrimental an increase in the rate could be for your client's buying power.
#4 Not Qualifying The Buyer Before Accepting Offers
If you're a Listing Agent this one's for you. Yes we said in #1 that buyer's agents should be making sure their buyers have updated pre-approvals. As a Listing Agent there has never been an even more important time to DOUBLE CHECK the qualifications of a buyer when presenting offers to your seller. Don't take the buyer's agents word for it (no offense to them). You don't know what THEY don't know and that could lead to a dead deal, and a bad experience for your seller client.
What are some mistakes you're seeing Agents & Brokers make in this market? Share in the comments below!
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