“THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH”
Today I want to explain why it is that I decided to do this series. I would like to start by giving you a little background about my entry into the real estate industry. I started back in 1995 with the Carlton Sheets no money down program. I did this for about a year. I did several deals (yes it does work, if you know what you’re doing) but just felt I needed some training. I went to school. I got a license and went to work for someone who could give me the training I needed to make more money with the program. When I got into it I thought, “you know, I could help a lot of people by selling real estate this way as well." I set out to help a lot of people who think that buying a house is for "rich people." Here here I am 17 years later (as of January 2013) still in the business. I love selling Real Estate, I love helping people, both in Real Estate and beyond. Anyone who really knows me knows that is the TRUTH.
Now back to what led me here. I have a lot of clients who get upset when I tell them they must be pre-qualified. I have had a client slam the door in my face. Some of them even go to another agent. However, I personally think it is very unprofessional of me to take you out to look at ANY homes before you are qualified. It is like taking you into surgery without doing an x ray or exam. It is like an attorney taking you into court without preparing you. Basically it is like saying your abc’s backwards. I really don’t think that people get it. It is not for me folks, it is strictly for you. Let’s just say you call and say "I want to see this house at 123 street," and I say, "okay." I show the house. It is listed for sale for 50,000 and you just love it. You want to write an offer; so we do. The seller accepts your offer. Then we go to the bank or mortgage company and they say, “Well, based on your income I can only lend you $40,000." This means the bank is not going to lend you any more than $40,000. Now unless you have $10,000 laying around somewhere you can’t buy this house. The same principle applies for loans.
I want you to ask yourself: do you blame yourself for wanting to look at the house or do you blame me. I would say me. As the professional, it's my responsibility to walk you through the home buying process. You see, when you make what, in most cases, is a 10 to 15 minute call to the bank or mortgage company and get pre-qualified it’s like having money in the bank waiting on you to spend. If the bank says you are pre-qualified to buy a home up to $50,000 at that time we can go to the computer, put in maximum sales price of $50,000 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage or whatever it is you are looking for and it will give us the homes that fit that criteria. Then we can go out and look at the homes on that list that you are most interested in.
I hope this clarifies why a good agent should ask you, are you pre-qualified? If not, insist that you get qualified instead of taking you out to look at a home first just because you ask, in hopes of qualifying later. It’s just not fair to you to fall in love with a house you may or may not be able to buy.
By the way, this is what happened to me when I went to buy my first home and to this day even though that agent and I are now close friends I still blame him for not educating me on how things are done and in what order. I hope this helps you understand the first process in buying a home. I will detail the next step as well as common missteps soon. For now, this has been,
“THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH”
Today I want to explain why it is that I decided to do this series. I would like to start by giving you a little background about my entry into the real estate industry. I started back in 1995 with the Carlton Sheets no money down program. I did this for about a year. I did several deals (yes it does work, if you know what you’re doing) but just felt I needed some training. I went to school. I got a license and went to work for someone who could give me the training I needed to make more money with the program. When I got into it I thought, “you know, I could help a lot of people by selling real estate this way as well." I set out to help a lot of people who think that buying a house is for "rich people." Here here I am 17 years later (as of January 2013) still in the business. I love selling Real Estate, I love helping people, both in Real Estate and beyond. Anyone who really knows me knows that is the TRUTH.
Now back to what led me here. I have a lot of clients who get upset when I tell them they must be pre-qualified. I have had a client slam the door in my face. Some of them even go to another agent. However, I personally think it is very unprofessional of me to take you out to look at ANY homes before you are qualified. It is like taking you into surgery without doing an x ray or exam. It is like an attorney taking you into court without preparing you. Basically it is like saying your abc’s backwards. I really don’t think that people get it. It is not for me folks, it is strictly for you. Let’s just say you call and say "I want to see this house at 123 street," and I say, "okay." I show the house. It is listed for sale for 50,000 and you just love it. You want to write an offer; so we do. The seller accepts your offer. Then we go to the bank or mortgage company and they say, “Well, based on your income I can only lend you $40,000." This means the bank is not going to lend you any more than $40,000. Now unless you have $10,000 laying around somewhere you can’t buy this house. The same principle applies for loans.
I want you to ask yourself: do you blame yourself for wanting to look at the house or do you blame me. I would say me. As the professional, it's my responsibility to walk you through the home buying process. You see, when you make what, in most cases, is a 10 to 15 minute call to the bank or mortgage company and get pre-qualified it’s like having money in the bank waiting on you to spend. If the bank says you are pre-qualified to buy a home up to $50,000 at that time we can go to the computer, put in maximum sales price of $50,000 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage or whatever it is you are looking for and it will give us the homes that fit that criteria. Then we can go out and look at the homes on that list that you are most interested in.
I hope this clarifies why a good agent should ask you, are you pre-qualified? If not, insist that you get qualified instead of taking you out to look at a home first just because you ask, in hopes of qualifying later. It’s just not fair to you to fall in love with a house you may or may not be able to buy.
By the way, this is what happened to me when I went to buy my first home and to this day even though that agent and I are now close friends I still blame him for not educating me on how things are done and in what order. I hope this helps you understand the first process in buying a home. I will detail the next step as well as common missteps soon. For now, this has been,
“THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH”
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