The Risks of Using a Poorly Qualified Real Estate Agent or No Agent at All!

I live and work in North Atlanta and find it sad that we rank third place for the total percentage of failed deals for 2016.

10.4% is an outrageous number of fails - clearly, someone does not know what they're doing.

I find it interesting that no data was put forth on what percentage of these buyers went into the deal on their own without the help of an experienced buyer’s agent, but I'll bet it's a significant number. I have seen industry reports lately citing a growing number of buyers (in all price ranges) getting into dual agency situations by trying to buy real estate on their own, often with a poor understanding of what was happening as problems occurred.

Apparently an increasing number of buyers are dealing directly with the builders or sellers listing agent on their own and that is of course risky, but since buyers agents are free, and no money is saved by trying to represent yourself, it's a pointless undertaking and shows a lack of understanding about basic real estate in general, and how to protect their own best interest!

Too many buyers "do a little online research" and assume they can handle a purchase transaction on their own, but in my experience, even experienced buyers lack important skills. A big difference is most experienced buyers recognize that they don't know what they don't know, and hire an agent.

Appraisal issues and home inspection problems have always been two major areas that derail deals. While very few agents know how to spot building and structural issues and warn their buyers, too many agents simply don't do an adequate job justifying the seller’s list price and the result is wasted time and money submitting offers the appraiser can't justify.

CMA's (Comparative Market Analysis) can help - if done right - but a better understanding of the appraisal process and how to properly value property would help both sellers and buyers by preventing seriously overpriced properties.

Major issues occur when properties are priced using the wrong square footage, and if you don't understand how to measure a house and what counts as square footage, you really don't know what the price should be.

As I have said for almost 20 years, there is no substitute for vetting agents and then hiring the most skilled Buyer’s Broker you can find.

I welcome your comments.

https://www.trulia.com/blog/trends/sale-fail/