Buying a new home and moving can be a really exciting, yet very stressful process. Especially if that move is from one state to another. My husband and I made our move from Louisville, Kentucky to Boston last year, and through the process we had to make a lot of really important decisions. One of the most important decisions that we made, and are so thankful that we did, was hiring a real estate agent to help us work through the home buying process.

 

Here are my top 5 reasons that working with an agent is the best decision you can make when buying a house.

 

They have market knowledge:

The market in Kentucky is much different than the market here in Boston. Our agent had knowledge of the local market and was able to help us come up with a realistic price for what we were wanting. Once we worked through that we were able to start the search. It was really helpful that our agent had access to new listings that hadn’t quite hit the market, which gave us a little bit of a head start when searching. When we found something that we were interested in he was able to help us understand trends over a long period of time so that we could understand what our resale value would be. His knowledge, experience and advice with this helped us to make a more informed decision on what we were buying.

 

Negotiating Skills:

This is probably one of the most stressful parts of home buying, as well as selling. We were so thankful to have our agent with us as we went through the process. It was such a relief knowing that we didn’t have to do much more than tell our agent what we wanted to offer. He took it from there. His knowledge of the market and experience in negotiating helped to get us the best price for our condo. From there he helped us negotiate through the inspection and repairs. While he was the one talking with the seller’s agent he made sure to keep in touch and talked us through step by step what was going on, which really put our minds at ease.

 

Resources:

One of the most valuable parts of having an agent work with us was his resources. From having insights on properties that were new to the market to being able to give us a list of recommendations for mortgage brokers we never really had to do much for ourselves. Trying to find someone trustworthy online can take time and can be a little overwhelming. Again, because of our realtors experience, knowledge, and contacts he was able to give us find a reliable mortgage broker and lawyer. Since we were moving from a different state we were on a little bit of a time crunch, since he already had relationships with these people we were able to make a quick transition. This made the process of deciding who we would trust with this process so much easier.

 

Paperwork Guidance:

Buying a home comes with signing a lot of papers. Trying to understand what we are signing would have taken us forever. It was so nice having our agent go through each document with us, so that we could better and more quickly understand what we were signing. This really helped to put our minds at rest knowing that he was paying just as much attention as we were. There were points in our home buying experience where things on the seller’s end weren’t being taken care of, and I can’t express enough how nice it was knowing that our agent had our backs and was taking care of it before we even knew about it.

 

After Closing:

Once we closed on our condo we really didn’t think that we would speak to our agent much. So it was a nice surprise when he reached out to us a little bit later asking how things were going. Since then he has helped us contact the seller’s lawyer when we need something, like a repair to the condo. He didn’t just leave us at the closing table. He has been just as helpful as he was when we were looking. Again, putting our mind at ease knowing that we have someone looking out for us even after we’ve bought our home.



All in all, I don’t think that we could have made this move without the help of our agent. It was a stressful process, but I don’t think that we would have made it without all of his advice, knowledge, and experience. It really made the process a million times easier, and our transition much more positive than it would have been.

 

By: Aleisha Hutchens