It has been brought to my attention that many people do not actually know what all a real estate agent does for someone. The main job is to obviously make sure that you as a buyer or seller are able to find or sell that perfect home and make the process as seamless as possible. However, there is a lot that goes into the whole home buying/selling process that many aren’t aware of, and since I am strictly a buyer agent, I will go over all the steps to the home buying process and what all happens in the back end!

First step: We need to find you buyers and we need to make sure that it is easy for a buyer to find us as real estate agents! So, we do tons of marketing and buy lead generation sources to be able to get connected to that home buyer.

Step two: We help figure out what are needs, wants, and desires of this potential new home and send emails of homes to the buyer to look through and see what is available right now on the market. Then, we send them to a lender that will help with the cost of purchasing this perfect home!

Step three: This is everyone’s favorite step, and it is looking at homes! Us as real estate agents will call and schedule showings for homes that meet what the buyer is looking for and be able to access the home at certain times. This step can be the most time consuming for an agent and buyer, it takes time out of a lot of days or even weeks something to be able to step into homes that they could potentially buy. Many do not even get past this step. If the buyer is not finding what they are looking for in a home, they may decide to buy later or work on lending options.

Step four: This is probably the most stressful part of home buying because this is when a buyer finds that perfect house and is ready to make an offer and see if the buyer and seller of the home can come to terms with an option. The agent consults with the buyer about offer details and options that they have to consider, such as price, closing costs, time frame, etc. it can be an overwhelming time. There are three responses a seller can give a to buyers offer, and that is an acceptance, a rejection, or a counteroffer where the seller likes some of the terms of the original offer but would like to tweak a thing or two and see if the buyer agrees.

Step five: If buyer and seller agree on terms and everything is signed, then we are officially “under contract” or “pending!” This is when the agent will congratulate the buyer on making it this far, and on their way to home ownership! But also, the agent will be doing a lot of work on the side to get things to the finish line such as emailing all the necessary documents to the lender and title, so they are able to get started on their job from their end. The agent will also help the buyer consider ordering home inspections as well, and when they decide, the agent will order them, schedule them, and gets all paperwork signed for this, and they will also then let the inspectors inside the home at those scheduled times.

Step six:  After inspections have been done and the buyer receives the inspection report on their soon to be house, it is time for some more negotiating terms again, to see if sellers will make some fixes that the buyer is concerned with.

Step seven: We are so far into the process at this point that closing day is in the horizon! However, we just have the appraisal to come in left. Many things can happen here if the house needs appraisal repairs or it comes in under the agreed upon price. So, again, there will be more negotiating that takes place…

Step eight: Everyone still agrees and things are looking good for buyer and seller to proceed with closing at this point. The real estate agent has done all the talking and making sure that everyone is also doing their job for the buyer in a timely manner so closing can happen on schedule. They were also handling the paperwork and calls for all the “negotiating” periods and made sure the title commitment came in clear and that the settlement statements match what was agreed on from the start. Then, it is time to schedule the closing time on that day, schedule the final walk through to make sure all is still well, and get the keys from the house and a little closing gift for your fantastic and, at this point, probably, exhausted client!

Step nine: The client signs all the lender and title paperwork at title on closing day and the real estate agent gives the keys to the buyer who is now officially a home owner!

This is, however, not a good-bye for the buyer and the real estate agent. The agent will make sure to stay in touch with them if they have any questions, or if friends and family would also like your agents services as well!

Doesn’t seem so bad, right!?