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WHAT IF?

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Paul George,

I have been selling real estate in the Columbus area for over 32 years.  Even since I started, I have been told that realtors will become obsolete.  Once realtor.com and zillow.com came along, I started to hear it even more.  That was 18 years ago.  In 2008, there were so many homes and homeowner’s upside down on their mortgages that banks were taking houses back and selling them at auctions, with no need for realtors.  Today it’s that houses are selling so fast, why do we need agents?  Add in that investment companies are now buying houses without realtors.

What If?

Out of the thousands of transactions I have been a part of, no two transactions were ever the same.  During one of my first transactions ever, while representing the seller, the buyer was in a car accident and passed away a week before closing.  My seller had never asked, “what if my buyer dies before closing?”  Zillow could not answer that.  I represented a buyer who built a condo last year and the building had already been started.  She based her payments on the current interest rate because historically interest rates don’t change much in a 90-day window.  She never asked, “what if the project gets delayed by four months and interest rates rise faster than they ever have in a six-month period?”  The builder couldn’t answer that. What happens when a buyer is purchasing a property, has done everything right, and at the last minute is told by the title company that the seller’s ex-wife won’t sign off on her dower rights unless the owner gives her part of the proceeds?  The buyer never asked “does the seller have an ex-wife who still has an interest in the property and won’t sign off just to spite him?”.

A good experienced agent must first be able to negotiate on behalf of whom they are representing, while understanding all the intricacies of their unique selling situation.  Take this scenario.  A house is brand new on the market and we know there will be competition. My experience tells me what it might take to have a winning offer. The seller lists the house as coming soon, and my buyer make an offer sight unseen.  The seller receives five offers, two are identical, how does the seller choose…and not get a lawsuit because they “discriminated” against the one they did not choose?  An experienced realtor can help navigate that. 

These are just a few examples of the what ifs in a real estate transaction that a website, a “for sale by owner”, or even an attorney likely can’t answer.  You need someone experienced to get you through the transaction.  On a typical real estate transaction there are over 50 tasks that need to be accomplished just for the real estate transaction itself.  This does not even include many of the buyer and seller responsibilities.

Once in contract, we have title people, inspectors, lenders, underwriters, appraisers, repair people, utilities, surveyors, other realtors, brokers, movers, cleaners etc., all with tasks and responsibilities that need to been handled within the timeframes of the contract. 

We have to be like a conductor and orchestrate all the moving parts, personalities and timeframes.  We have to have answers for all the “what ifs”.

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