I was taking a class down at the Pinellas realtor Organization recently and our instructor told us a very interesting story. He was involved in a consumer study a few weeks back where they brought some people in and asked them questions about the Real Estate process. When asked the question, “What does a realtor do?”, not one person knew the answer! There were some mumblings about how they show you houses, which is true, but that is only a very small part of what a realtor does.If you’re looking for more tips, Faris Team-Ontario Realtors has it for you.

When you start looking for a new home, what most people do is get in their car on a Saturday and drive around the areas they like looking for “For Sale” signs. When you see something you like, you get out, look around a little, and if you’re still interested, you call the agents’ number on the sign in the front yard to schedule a showing. In the course of a day, you may have anywhere from 2-10 different agents lined up to show you properties. And you’re trying to keep track of who is showing you what property and so on and so on. I did this too before I became a realtor. And once you find something you like, what do you do from there? I had no idea. What I didn’t know is that YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO ALL THIS WORK YOURSELF!

All real estate agents are not the same, and they are not all realtors. To be properly called a realtor, a licensee must be a member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF realtors. Realtors are committed to dealing honestly with all members of a transaction and maintain a strict code of ethics and a higher level of knowledge of the process of buying and selling real estate.

Once you find someone you like, your realtor will:

1.) Help you determine what you can afford by getting some basic information from you and referring you to lenders who are best qualified to help you. It’s always good to be pre-approved before you start your home search. This way, you know what you can afford, and the seller knows you won’t have any snags come up when you purchase the property. It also saves everyone time and allows you to move fast when you find that perfect property.

2.) Your realtor has access to many databases and resources to help you in your search for your perfect new home. If the property is listed, and at times even if it’s not being marketed yet, your agent will find it.

3.) Your realtor can help you weed out properties you wouldn’t be interested in by providing information about each property before you use up all of your gas driving around. realtorS have access to loads of informational resources that can provide you with information about the communities, the schools, zoning, churches, etc.

4.) Your realtor will do all of the grunt work for you. He/she will call the listing agents of the properties you’d like to see and arrange showing times according to YOUR schedule. They will also find out from the listing agent any pertinent information you may need to know about the property and then show you the property.

5.) Once you find the property you want to make an offer on, your realtor will prepare all of the paperwork and take care of any negotiation factors including price, anything included or excluded from the sale, financing, terms, date of possession and much more. They will take care of getting the offer to the sellers’ agent.

6.) Your realtor can advise you what inspections and investigations are required before purchasing the property,and they can recommend qualified professionals to do these for you and provide you with written reports within the time-line mentioned on the purchase contract.

7.) Your realtor will obtain any disclosures about the property from the sellers’ agent.

8.) Your realtor will help you understand and guide you through the closing process, making sure everything goes smoothly. They will be there at the closing with you and will be smiling along with you when you get handed the keys to your new home.