She knew her inventory. The
buyer's agent friend did not.
It's like wandering around the aisles of a drug store not knowing which over-the-counter cough syrup is best for your particular ailment. Who would you rather ask? The clerk at
the register or the pharmacist?
Either way, you're walking out of the store carrying a bottle with thick sloshy colo liquid inside a non-descript cardboard box.
Will the cough syrup do the job?
So what you're really hiring in an agent is knowledge - and not just knowledge of inventory. Knowledge of lots of things that you don't even know you don't know. Agents make it
seem easy, but that's because they want it to seem easy. If you knew how complex and nuanced it really was, your stress level would go through the roof.
After all, it is only the most expensive purchase you've ever made in your life.
But it's only a house.
We've all lived in houses and homes, so we feel familiar with them. The purchase may not seem like a "big deal."
But it is. You need someone that can handle the pressure if things go wrong. Just in case. |
About that buyer? The
first agent and the listing agent had already spoken to one another about a possible pending offer - and the listing agent had told her sellers. No details of course.
The buyer did present an offer, but with a different agent.
This took the listing agent by surprise. Like many services, real estate agents have a code of ethics. This behavior wasn't ethical, either from the agent or the buyer. To
be fair, the agent may not have been totally aware of what was going on.
Anyway, imagine negotiating in this environment, if negotiations went anywhere at all.
Which isn't really the point of this article. The point was that you hire an agent because of training, knowledge, experience, problem-solving ability, connections,
their ability to communicate...and a lot of other subtle abilities.
The moral?
"Even a wise individual doesn't know what he doesn't know."
As a buyer, you have blind spots you don't know about that can become monumental problems or routine challenges, depending on your agent's ability. Be prepa. |
