So your Realtor® won’t let you buy the house you want …

As Realtors®, part of our job is to help our clients buy the home they want (assuming the home is within the approved financial means of the client). When we first meet with the home buyer, we talk to them about their basic criteria, their preferred locations, their “need to haves” vs their “want to haves”, and what they absolutely don’t want.

During the physical viewing process, a good agent will listen to the subtle comments a buyer makes as they’re viewing the various homes. Without realizing it, very often the buyer will reveal something about their “feelings” that’s not on the basic list.

I had some relocating buyers a number of years ago where we viewed quite a few homes that met their criteria list, but none of them were “the perfect home”. None had the special set of features that made the buyer want to buy. At the end of the day as we were assessing the homes and making plans for their next trip to the area, the wife said, “I want a home that makes me go WOW when I walk in the front door”. Ah-ha! That’s a big clue. That’s what I mean by “feelings”.

So prior to their next visit, I previewed homes that met their basic criteria (on a golf course, 1st flr MBR, under $500K) THEN I looked for the WOW FACTOR. I found it … we viewed the home the following weekend … and they bought it. The view from the front door was of a curved staircase and wall, marble floors, AND a view of the golf course from the special windows in the Great Room.

Now what happens if, as a home buyer, you’re working with an agent that won’t let you buy the home you really want?

I once had a buyer’s agent tell me that although the buyer really liked the home, he wasn’t going to LET her buy it because he thought it was too big for her. SAY WHAT! He told me he had to keep holding her to the initial criteria she gave him and he wasn’t going to allow her change it. He felt she was selecting homes that were larger than what she really needed. In other words, he was deciding what home she should or should not buy based on HIS feelings … not hers.

If I had ever had an agent with that kind of opinion when I was shopping for any of the homes I bought prior to becoming a Realtor®, I would have fired that agent. It’s common for buyers to change or adjust their criteria while they’re viewing homes. It’s a learning process that can and should be allowed to evolve. It’s not uncommon to have a buyer fall in love with a home that met very little of the initial criteria. They fall in love with it because it just “feels” right.

The decision to buy a particular home usually ends up being an emotional one. We choose a home because we can see ourselves living in it. We can imagine where we’ll have our morning coffee, where we’ll relax at the end of the day, how we’ll celebrate holiday dinners, take Sunday afternoon naps, cozy up with a favorite book, etc.

So, pick a home YOU like and don’t let your agent pick one THEY like. This also applies to parents’ opinions … except of course, for my kids … where my opinion does count.

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