Some real estate agents are terrified by the thought that their clients have researched an area as much as they have. This puts real estate agents in less of a position of power and that is somewhat threatening, or so they say. However, my question is this: were agents ever in a position of power to begin with in the first place? The answer to this is ‘no’. Agents are fiduciaries for their clients, or principals, and it is an agent’s duty to represent the interests of the client in the highest regard. And buyers want to pay only as much as they need to to get the house, while sellers want as many offers as possible at the best price and terms. A Realtor gets the client in this position whether the client is savvy or not. But if the client is savvy, then we love it! Let us first discuss what it means to be a savvy client of real estate.
When buyers start their process on the internet, it’s no surprise that they view listings casually, or with a specific purpose in mind. Instead of streaming their favorite Netflix show (mine is Orange is the New Black, by the way), they may instead decide to go on real estate websites to see what the latest inventory is out there in their target market. Savvy real estate buyers and sellers already have a strong familiarity with their market from online data that is readily available for everyone to see.
Savvy real estate buyers and sellers often ask very detailed questions about the neighborhood and can go through large amounts of listings in a short period of time. This means the consumer is well-informed. And we find this to be a good thing. When a consumer is informed, it takes less time for us to convince a buyer or seller that they must offer or sell at a certain price. If a buyer wants to low-ball a property and we tell them there are 10 offers to the property, a savvy buyer will know to increase the price in order to get the offer accepted. Sellers wanting too high a price will know right away with our advice that the price might be too high, and we would do this by corroborating our opinion with the data the seller views for herself on other websites. I think when all parties are informed in this manner, decisions can be made more efficiently.
Some people think that to service a client, that the Realtor needs to be an order giver and the client an order taker, but this is not the case at all. As real estate agents, we are, legally, special agents with limited powers to bind the principal to contracts. In layman’s terms, this means that the client is 100% the decision maker in all aspects of real estate. So when we work with savvy buyers and sellers of real estate, and these clients of ours end up making the final decisions for themselves with our guidance, do you think we want them informed or not so informed? The former wins over the latter every time.
What if a client is a first time home buyer and does not know much of the real estate market? That is perfectly fine– it is our duty to fill in the gap and inform our clients to make the best decisions they can. After our preliminary advice to our clients, our clients’ understanding of the market improves, and over time, less needs to be explained to them (less explanation does not constitute less disclosing, please keep this very distinction in mind). Either way, we are always excited to help our wide range of clients, whether they be savvy or buying or selling for their first time. While Realtors are still the real estate experts, we recognize the thoughtfulness and knowledge our clients have picked up along the way and we think it’s great that our clients are doing their homework.