Realtor...to have or have not?

We were blessed to stumble upon a great realtor. We accidentally met Candace Bornstein Byrne (of Keller-Williams) when I called her about another house we’d driven by. Within a week, she was representing us as we made the offer on this house.

I think it’s really important to:
A. Have a realtor…especially for your first home purchase
B. Get along with and trust your realtor.

Candace was adorable. I feel like she should totally be a cartoon character. She is cute and animated and funny, full of charisma. But we always felt like she knew her stuff and was being honest with us, and if we needed something or had a question, she was on the phone taking care of it immediately. Candace is also close to our own age, so we felt like we had some things in common. And we got to work with her husband (of Old Town Mortgage) and father (the closing attorney). They were all really great.

Some people may try to do real estate transactions without a realtor in order to save some money, but I felt much more comfortable having one and think the right realtor will actually save you money, even if you’re selling and have to pay their fees.

Three reasons to have a realtor:

1. They know the process and do the hard work for you.
Even though we actually found the house we ended up buying, Candace made the calls, set up appointments, researched the comps, knew the area, walked us through the steps, advised us on the offer, outlined the contract, etc. Yes, it was our first experience with all that, but simply having her expertise was a big comfort, not to mention timesaver. Having her handle the details helped me keep some sanity and probably my job.

2. They can make recommendations and referrals.
Candace was not only related to several of the other pros we used, but she’s got lots of experience in the industry and was able to give us great recommendations on things like insurance and inspectors as well (Yay, BrickKickers!). They work with these people all the time, so they know which companies and people are good to deal with. Much easier and more reliable than if we had to find out all these things on our own.

3. They are problem solvers. I think most of the time in real estate, something with the deal doesn’t go the way it’s supposed to. Realtors have seen tons of various situations, plus they have resources to figure out what to do in every situation. And they can make the uncomfortable phone calls. Candace was the one dealing with the selling realtor, so we didn’t have to. Had we not had her representation on that one, Adam may be living in jail instead of our great new house!

And that’s my final point: Not all realtors are as great as ours. There are definitely some out there that don’t know what they’re doing and have no integrity. We got lucky with Candace and her peeps, who all treated us really well.

Now, more pics of our worker bees: