The experiences I had buying my first home were not all roses and sunshine. It’s a bit of a learning curve for anyone and all these things swirl around in your head; mortgages, lawyers, writing cheques, keeping appointments, home inspections, insurance. Thank goodness for my Google Calendar. I checked  my calendar several times a day just to wrap my head around it all.

We chose a good Realtor, he was eager to please and would get back in touch with us as soon as possible. He helped keep my head on straight more than once during the process. This Realtor was full time and he knew the Barrie area.

The Selling Realtor, however, did not.  She was a friend of the seller and lived an hour and a half away.

The first problem with hiring your friend or loved one is the possibility of a sale going South. It’s hard to give your friends and family a hard time like you might with a Realtor who you only know professionally. You are more likely to just bottle things up and maybe not be friends with that person anymore. With family, things might get so tense, it blows up eventually. After all, this is a great deal of money they are dealing with. Your biggest purchase. If this person close to you drops the ball, you are going to be upset.

Whether this happened to the Seller or not, I can not comment on. There is a big possibility that the relationship is strained because said Selling Realtor almost dropped the ball on this sale.

Our Realtor called us in a bit of a panic, saying a piece of paperwork was not correctly filled out. In truth, it was my fault. I had signed my name on the sale agreement but was not going to be on the Mortgage. That had to be changed and quickly! I don’t remember the specifics but I believe if it was not submitted by the Friday (this is Thursday evening) then the sale would not go through. This means that the Selling Realtor would have to travel to Barrie to bring these changes to her clients and have it signed.

Well, she just wasn’t going to do it. She didn’t have time or the energy. She actually HUNG UP on our Realtor who was trying to convince her to travel. He was trying to explain that her clients would lose this sale if she did not.

My husband panicked and decided we were going to walk away from the deal. I was a little more calm and wanted to see where this was going to go. Our Realtor brought the papers for my husband to sign and then away he flew while we hoped for the best. It was a stressful day waiting for that call.

Well, we got the house after all, she came through for her clients.

When we purchased our house it was $10,000 undervalued, a mess of purple paint, awful wallpaper, smoke stained and “interesting” DIY shelving. It was obvious their Realtor was not advising them to do any sprucing up to maximize their home’s worth. It suited us just fine, we were OK with a little elbow grease if the price was right. The Sellers got the sour end of this deal because their Agent and friend did not advise them properly.

 

 

 

 

When hiring a Real Estate Agent it is in your best interest to choose one that is local, reputable, professional and experienced. You want the best agent possible to get the best possible results.