Habitat for Hermanity: Your Real Estate Infotainment...Where Housing Hilarity Ensues! San Francisco Bay Area Realtor Herman Chan

Simmer Down! Your agent is nagging you for a good reason!

5/4/2011

QUESTION
Hello Herman, I am totally insulted that my agent won’t show me any more homes until I get pre-approved for a loan...It’s not any of her business yet. Shouldn’t we find our house first and then work on a loan? -Abbie

ANSWER
Abbie, simmer down! No need to be insulted. Everyone is being very cautious nowadays....

Read the rest of my no non-sense advice for MTV's site 365gay.

Tell me when & why your realtor nagged you!

4 Comments

Melanie E

5/4/2011 03:23:05 am

My agent nagged me about getting an extra inspection. the seller did one already so i thought it was redundant. but thank goodness my agent convinced me to my own inspection. there was a lot of undisclosed damage! the inspection cost me a few hundred dollars but it saved me thousands!

tom in long beach

5/4/2011 03:24:04 am

I have been trying to refinance for a month now and am getting raked over the coals. A friend of mine who owns multiple apartment buildings is having a hard time doing the same for his house.

ljrhodes

5/4/2011 03:24:53 am

Getting our pre-approval was the first thing my partner and I did when we started looking for houses. In fact, most listing agents won’t even pass your offers onto their clients if there isn’t a pre-approval letter attached, because they, like your own buying agent, don’t want to waste time on someone who might not be able to get a mortgage in the end.

Also, and this is a big deal, you might be approved for a rather high amount, but you’ll want to sit down with your loan officer and go over all the likely expenses of the mortgage, including taxes, insurance, etc., as well as utilities and likely maintenance costs (something homeowners must bear themselves), then figure out whether all this combined can be afforded on just your partner’s or your salary alone, should something ever happen to one of your incomes.

My partner and I decided to set our limit on a price that was only 66% of the amount for which we were approved, so that one of us could afford to carry the mortgage and utilities should something happen to either of us. You’ll almost always be approved for far more than you can actually afford, even in this hunkered-down market.

That said, it’s your realtor who should be insulted, since getting a pre-approval is a very fast and simple process that will show you’re not wasting his/her time…or your own, even. Realtors aren’t philanthropists. They’re out to earn a living like anyone else. So, they need to know their time isn’t being wasted, especially since housing prices (and, by extension, their commissions) have tanked. Not to mention, when the time comes to make an offer on a house, you might just be SOL if you don’t have that pre-approval letter attached to your offer, as it will likely just be thrown in the trash.

herman link

5/4/2011 03:29:20 am

@00HaveAniceDay00 that’s exactly what i told my client last wk!

@michaelnDallas something else that i should mention, is that oftentimes fsbo listings get blackballed. buyers are wary of them b/c the sellers aren’t prepared with all the disclosures, paperwork, legalities to make them feel comfortable, and buyesr agents just think fsbo’s are a slap in the face. they have to do twice the amount of work for 1/2 (or even less) the pay.

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Simmer Down! Your agent is nagging you for a good reason!

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