Thread: What should I expect from my agent and mortgage professional ?

If you really need to immediately buy a house then I think it is time you change your realtor and mortgage broker. But if you are not in a hurry, you really need to have a talk with these guys and ask them if they are still interested with finding you a house. There are steps in the Home buying process, especially if you are purchasing with the help of a lender, all of whom a professional real estate agent should have been able to help you with.

Never talk to just one lender. Get out the phone book out or google different lenders in your area and talk to a variety of them. All lenders do not have the same rates and terms at any given time. Shop for the best rates and terms and watch out for junk fees that they try to add onto the loan. Get all their promises in writing. If your agent only wants you to work with this one lender then dump both of them.

While you are waiting for your agent to help you talk to some other agents and have them send you listings and see who does the best job at providing houses to look at. If any of them only send you listings from their company then don't use them because they are not looking out for your best interests.

Do not sign an exclusive buyer agency agreement with any of them until you are far enough along in the process that you have developed enough trust to continue using them. Too often agents will try to force you to sign up front and then you are stuck with sub par service.

Too often, when lenders and agents are working with referrals they take them for granted and with you being a first time home buyer you need someone who will guide you through the process and look out for you the whole time.

These are very risky issues and you should always go for it with a lot of care. You should get over it by consulting someone of trust, hope everything goes on your way.

you can expect them loyalty no cheating first
second Good service.

Hong Kong Property

Originally Posted by jenjenjen

I have a couple of questions. My husband and I have just started looking in to buying a home. This is not something that we have ever done so naturally we have questions.

We were given the name and number of a real estate agent by a close family member who has known him for years. The real estate agent gave us the information for a mortgage professional and we have been in contact with both. The mortgage guy called us and I gave him some basic information and he determined that we would qualify for a loan. The real estate agent has sent us the information on a couple of houses that he thought fit our criteria. None of them were even close to what I was looking for though i realize that was not his fault at all but mine. I sent him addresses of listings that were more to our taste and budget. Here is where it gets sticky for me.

We have not signed anything with either of them.
The financial guy calls the real estate agent to tell him what loans we would qualify for yet he hasn't told us anything or even tried to set up a phone or sit down meeting with us. We have no idea of the next step, APR, types or mortgages, NOTHING.

I have emailed the real estate agent to ask a couple of seemingly basic questions and 4 days later I have no response. Granted part of that is the weekend but I would expect a reply sooner rather than later especially considering he had promised to email me a search of the homes in our area and we didn't get it on the day he said he would get it to us. In fact I still do not have what he said he would get to me, 4 days later.

I have been doing my own research and found that we need to get pre-approval before making an offer yet nobody has even mentioned it to us or moved forward with getting it done.

Am I wrong to expect more out of the two of them? I am starting to think that these guys are on the take yet they came so highly recommended and are good friends of a trusted family member I would like to think better of them. Should we cut our losses and try to find new people? If so what should we expect of new people ? We are just lost.

Help! Thank you in advance

Lesson 1: References mean nothing and have not for years. Just because this service provider did a good job for someone else does not mean they will for you. Since you signed no contracts with them you owe them nothing! Make a set of criteria for what you expect an Ahent to do, how they should act, etc. Then go out and find one you feel comfortable with and fits all of your criteria.

Lesson 2: Never do business with family and friends, or friends of friends and family. That is the best way to destroy relationships. Also many of these so called family and friends will not hesitate to screw you if it comes down to it and expect you to take it.

Lesson 3: Real estate is in the toilet right now. In this economy the bad Agents will get worse and otherwise good Agents will turn bad! After all they need to eat and pay their bills and you are just a means to that end. Watch your back and document everything you do. Become familiar with your State's RE Agent, buying, selling, and inspecting laws. You only have yourself to blame if you do get screwed and have no documentation or recourse for it.

Lesson 4: At some point you will have to trust your Agent, mortgage people, Inspector, etc. If you don't then you will never feel somewhat comfortable about your purchase. But trusting does not mean believing everything you hear. "He said, she said" rarely works in court if you ever have to go that route. Don't believe what you are told unless you see it in writing in a law, on a company letterhead, or just on paper with someones name, title, company name and their signature. Bookmark the WEB site, print it out when you see it, etc., etc. If you have to and the judge asks you don't have to worry about "He said, she said".

Lesson 5: Buying a home to live in is not an investment! The home is your place to live and if you have no intention or desire to live there in the long run then don't buy that home. Homes are not, and never have been, something to buy, live in for a few years, and then sell to move up to the next level. If you don't believe that then look at all of the people around you who fell for the line "It's a great time to buy!". Plenty of them are now waiting for the Sheriff's office to knock on their door and evict them for forclosure proceedings!

There are many more lessons to learn but if you read and research your purchase first you won't have to worry about learning those lessons!