What do you don't want real estate agents to know?

When anyone is looking for a new house or talking about house hunting, how to deal with real estate agents is an engaging topic.

The story is about a friend who was looking for a house while his wife was pregnant. As he disclosed so much information to the real estate agent, he ended up paying 10% more of the market price, spending 1,100K instead of 900K for a house. The problem is not understanding the reality of who real estate agents are.

In a real estate transition, the real estate agent is looking to resolve the differences between the seller and dealer. The buyer agent helps the buyer, and the seller agent assists the seller. However, both agents are business people who are eventually looking to get paid. In a real estate transaction, the agent fee is paid by the seller because the seller decides to sell the house or not. Even your buyer agent execute to your best interests, they can play against you due to the eagerness to close the deal. If the seller agent knows your information, that is even worse because your buyer agent also loses the bargain powers, and he can't do anything about it.

The following are things that you don't want any real estate agent to know: 

• You are eager to buy the house, such as you have a deadline such as a new baby due, kids needing to join the school, or a rental lease that you don't want to review. If a real estate agent knows, that will push the agenda to you. Instead, show you are taking your time. 
• Your budget and expectations can be revealed when you tell your agent that I have missed a house at a given price and regret it or estimate the house prices. Then they will press to make this a weak point or use it as the baseline for the price. Instead, ask questions for them to give a price estimate. 
• Your personal information, such as you don't know the area and live far away, where you work, is also not necessary to tell the agent. They can use them persuade or give you pressure to buy. Instead, telling them how much you researched in the areas and how you plan to buy more houses later can incentivize a long-term relationship. When agents know that you can give him references or have long-term investment opportunities, they have an incentive to get the best deal for you.
• You like the house should not tell the agent. Instead, tell the drawbacks and ask questions. 
• Don't tell your plan on the house. This can show your preferences. The agent can paint the future picture to raise the price. Instead, focus on the current condition of the house tell your concerns for bargaining power. 

Ask questions is the best strategy when you are with an agent. The following are some good ones:

• Does the owner has multiple house? 
• Has the owner moved out? 
• What is the reason for selling the home? 
• How many similar places are in this area? 
• Has anyone given an offer to this house? 
• Do we have a criminal report of the area? Any sex offender reported in the regions?
• Any people pass away or have unique stories about the place? 

Happy house hunting.

Editor's Notes: The story is partially from: https://youtu.be/5PohhfgruGc.