If you could find a Sequim Buyer’s Agent with the qualifications that would assure you that you were well represented, would you hire that agent? Let’s assume you are retiring to Sequim and you want to find and buy your ideal retirement home. Doesn’t it sound like a good idea to find the best Sequim Buyer’s Agent you can possibly find after a great deal of due diligence? [See my Bonus Gift at the end of this article.]
Sequim Buyer’s Agent
Why am I asking this question? Because I’m sometimes surprised by how many retirees move to Sequim but do zero due diligence on their agent. I know I don’t have to remind you how much is at stake here for you. A huge portion of your life savings, a lot of stress as you work through the move from your current home to Sequim. You are leaving familiar ground, your grocery stores, your favorite restaurants, your church, and friends. When you get to Sequim, you start all over on all of these. Then there’s the financial challenges, because you’re trying to buy the best home you can while keeping your retirement account and savings to levels that won’t put you at risk years from now when you don’t know how much health care cost are going to increase.
So here’s my rhetorical question, “Why do well educated and intelligent retirees hire a Sequim Buyer’s Agent without any interview or due diligence in advance?”
I think the simple answer is that they don’t know they should. I think good people assume that all real estate brokers are the same, or that they all have the same real estate education, experience, competence, professionalism, and integrity. Of course, just by phrasing that issue like I just did will immediately make you say to yourself, “No, I don’t assume that.”
Granted, you may not, yet many still hire agents without any idea whether they can protect their interests, negotiate the best price and terms, help them through the legal contracts, properly do all the due diligence necessary, and get to closing safely.
Recently, a couple were in Sequim to visit because they were considering moving to Sequim. They were parked somewhere in Sequim and finished their business when the wife said to her husband, “Honey, there’s a real estate office across the street. Why don’t we see if they can help us?,” to which he replied, “Sure.”
Sounds harmless enough, right? So they waltzed into the office, and sitting just inside the front entrance was a woman doing “desk time” at a clean desk with nothing but a telephone. She was watching the phone in case it rang. [I’m having fun here with my meager attempt at dry wit, so bear with me.]
They asked the desk agent about homes, and she said she would take them out and show them some homes, to which they readily agreed. They had never met her, never talked to her before, never emailed with her, and did no interview of any kind. These folks did buy a home through that agent.
Their agent apparently had very little experience in real estate or dealing professionally with other agents, because she made one huge mess, got everyone frustrated, even her own clients, and put the entire transaction at risk. If I told you the details, you would really understand the point even more.
A Sequim Buyer’s Agent I Am
I’m not trying to pick on real estate agents. My goodness I am one! But this story I’m sharing is far too common all across the fruited plains, and guess who is responsible for hiring inexperienced agents? Buyers.
Please don’t risk your peace and money by not doing your due diligence. I don’t plug myself a lot on this blog, although I notice that I have in a few recent articles. It’s taken me 10 years to post the 2,000 articles on this blog, produce the Sequim Buyer’s Video Series (and others), write many Sequim real estate books for buyers, record audios for buyers, and create the best programmed Sequim MLS sites for buyers.
So after doing all this for buyers for a decade (and having 20 years as a real estate attorney behind me and sharing everything I know with buyers free), I think I’ve earned the right to toot my horn once in a great while. There’s not another Sequim Buyer’s Agent that does all this for buyers like I do. No one has worked harder or longer to earn your business than I have.
I would appreciate your vote! Of course, what I mean by that is I would appreciate you hiring me as your Sequim Buyer’s Agent. I don’t charge you anything, and you get a lifetime of experience in your corner. Seriously, is that not a great offer? Why would a buyer not take me up on this offer unless you just don’t like bald guys?
I respect anyone’s decision to hire whomever they want as their Sequim buyer’s agent. What I’m talking about here is a very fundamental concept. It is in your best interests as a buyer to find and hire a Sequim Buyer’s Agent based on their knowledge, experience, competence, professionalism, and integrity. No?
You can interview me on the phone or in person. You can ask me any question you want, professional or personal. I am Mr. Transparent. There is no question I will duck, and you will know right away exactly what kind of person I am, and you’ll know whether you want to work with me or not.
Last Updated on September 1, 2019 by Chuck Marunde
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