Advice to inexperienced, nervous home buyers get a good agent on your side.
Category Weekly Advice
Advice to inexperienced, nervous home buyers get a good agent on your side.
Despite much good reassuring advice being disseminated regularly by the property media (both printed and online), many Capetonians are afraid to become home buyers for the simple reason that they fear they lack the knowledge to handle the process properly.
This was said recently by Rowan Alexander, Director of Alexander Swart Property. He was talking to a group of his agency’s agents in one of their regular training sessions.
“All of us with experience of the property market know that a fairly large number of people who might and should become home owners are scared of the home buying process because they feel that they do not know such basic facts as where to start looking, what to look for, how to recognise good value in today’s market and how to go about arranging their finances for the purchase.”
These fairly straightforward matters, said Alexander, well understood by the vast majority of home owners, are often a complete mystery to those new to property dealing or property buying.
“Potential new buyers tend to go wrong from the start and adopt inappropriate tactics because they have taken advice from ‘experts’ not qualified to give it. It is regrettably true that dinner table talk, braai discussions and bar room conversations have time and again caused serious problems to property dealers, even when well intentioned.”
How then should a first time or inexperienced buyer go about becoming a home owner.
In Alexander’s opinion there is only one way to go consult a good agent, one whom several previous clients have testified has an in-depth understanding of the property market and is able to produce a CV which lists consistently good recent sales. Most such agents, said Alexander, are caring, patient and able to help the buyer clarify his needs, understand his financial constraints and the many implications of buying a home which the buyer has probably not considered.
“In particular, a good agent will assist the buyer with his budgeting. He will help him understand where he stands financially, what he can or cannot afford and the many factors that influence the banks’ mortgage bond decisions.
To do this he will probably introduce the buyer to a reputable mortgage bond originator who will assess his credit worthiness and calculate what size loan he qualifies for and what percentage of the property value the banks are likely to allow him.
“A good agent will ensure that the buyer is not hustled into accepting a deal which is not really suited to him and his family or which contains difficult conditions he might not be able to meet. Such agents in the end earn big rewards because their clients establish a lifetime connection with them, come back to them again and again and recommend them to their friends.”
For further information contact Rowan Alexander on cell phone number 082 581 3116 or by email rowan@asproperty.co.za
Author: Independent author.
