Why retain a licensed professional real estate consultant to help you buy property? Do you have the time, experience, sources of information and contacts to do the job yourself?  Would it go as smooth as it could? Would it give you more personal time? Would you purchase for less? The exclusive buyer's agent does a lot more than merely find a property to earn his or her living:

Mortgage Pre-Approval

You should determine your actual buying power, that is, your financial reserves plus your borrowing capacity, to keep your search realistic. Given some information about your available savings, income and current debt, a real estate consultant can refer you to lenders like Cambridge Mortgage who are best qualified to help you get the mortgage pre-approval you will need to make a purchase offer.

Selecting A Property

• Targeted Searching: There are thousands of properties for sale with signs on them. A real estate consultant can help you focus on the ones that meet your requirements and budget.

• Resources: Sometimes the property you are seeking is available but not publicly advertised. Real estate consultants have many resources to assist you.

• Objectivity: Your job is to make the final selection of the right property for you. Your real estate consultant can provide objective information about each property (community data, utilities, zoning, schools, etc.) so your decision is well informed, considering both present day value and resale.

Negotiating

Negotiations concern much more than just price. Some other issues might be:

• Financing and Terms

• Date of possession

• The inclusion or exclusion of repairs or furnishings and distribution of incidental costs.

• Allowed time for inspections before you are bound to complete the purchase.

Your real estate consultant can advise you as to which inspections are recommended or required.

Monitoring, Renegotiating & Closing or Settling

• Overwhelming volume of steps: The process of appraisals, inspections, and financing involves a lot of possible pitfalls. There are many required legal forms and processes. Your real estate consultant can help you in understanding different financing options and in identifying qualified lenders.

• Experience reading and following escrow instructions: Instructions must be clear  and complete. Your real estate consultant is the best person to objectively help you communicate these issues and move the transaction to closing (or settlement).

• Organizing inspectors or other professionals: Industry contacts provide resources for work persons in many areas with knowledge as to their historical skill and reliability. Your real estate consultant can assist you in finding qualified responsible professionals to do most of these investigations and provide you with written reports.

• Title investigation: Title indicates ownership of property. It can be mired in confusing status of past owners or rights of access or have some limitations; for example, easements (access rights) for utilities. Your real estate consultant, title company and/or attorney can help you resolve issues that might cause problems at a later date.

• Closing or Settlement: In some areas, the title or escrow company will handle this process. In other parts of the country, an attorney does it all. Again, your real estate consultant can guide you through this process and make sure everything flows together smoothly.