NE TEXAS Real Estate News

• They want to know all about the neighborhood competition, so they can disregard those competing listings. Sellers look for confirmation that their home is "the one."
• At the same time, sellers may also be buyers, shopping in another real-estate-price range or location for their next home. Resulting double-duty stress may leave them too distracted and exhausted to limit emotional reactions to the offers they receive. This can prevent them from properly weighing offer details.

Buyers and sellers are only interested in "the one," but professionals know that every property they view augments their expertise. Their growing body of knowledge adds to their practical value for the buyers and sellers they serve.

Professionals view real estate because they love this work. They gain their livelihood from perfecting their skill in quickly and accurately evaluating each property they tour. Professionals are determined to analyze and retain information as they work, knowing they'll use this knowledge to serve their clients. Buyers and sellers would rather just walk into "the one" and be done.

2017 Resolution: Stop doing the work a professional is trained to do for you in the process of arranging the best deal in real estate and mortgages. Instead, in 2017, concentrate on selecting professionals who are trained to serve you and have acquired the expertise to outsmart those selling you things.

Invest time understanding the type and level of expertise you need to achieve your goals. Investigate a few professionals to discover the best match. Ask for disclosure of any relationships, biases, and fees that will slant the professional toward or against specific lenders, companies, properties, or products. Some professionals sell their companies products exclusively; others offer independent, open market searches.

With the chosen professional clarify exactly what you want, need, and don't want. Ask a lot of questions, answer their questions, and let them get to work for you. Leave them to view dozens and dozens of properties on your behalf. If you're shopping for a mortgage, let the professional scour the field of lenders.

The real estate professional will relay details and photos or videos of their findings and zero in to locate the handful of possibilities that you should see firsthand. Your mortgage broker will present the pros and cons of the few ideally-suited mortgages. In all cases, the choice will be yours.

If you're a seller, use your freed-up time to de-clutter the house and keep it pristine. If you are a buyer, concentrate on getting your finances in order and saving more money to buy the house or arrange a smaller mortgage. Or, in either case, just take a stress-free break.