Dawna Davies and her assistant Jodi Blanchard did an exceptional job in helping us sell our home in San Luis Obispo. Dawna’s intelligence and knowledge of the business made the whole complex process easy for us to understand and navigate. What seemed like counter-intuitive advice at the start—that we should be extremely thorough in discovering any possible problems with the forty year old house and present them in advance—turned out to streamline the final transaction by building trust in potential buyers and removing the possibility of unpleasant surprises and uncertainty for us. Her contacts with a wide range of local business people who carried out many preparatory operations quickly and economically offered another unique benefit. Her tact and amiability made our numerous interactions pleasant rather than wary. And Jodi’s work in converting the box full of documents from our files into a coherent house-maintenance-history binder meticulous and creative. From start to finish our involvement with Davies Company was personally as well as financially rewarding.
- Call Your Own Agent, Only- It’s very exciting to find the perfect property online or driving by! Unfortunately, some buyers contact the seller’s agent for viewing a property, thinking that it will save time or hassle for their own agent. This can create confusion for the seller’s agent, about who is representing the buyer. If you are committed to an agent, let them do the communicating on your behalf, from the first contact for viewing.
- Be Discreet- Today, most properties have some form of electronic monitoring on the property. This can be doorbell cameras, baby monitors, and more. The seller and their agent are not required to advise that there are monitoring devices in the property. What you say and do may be watched, without your knowledge. Best to be pleasantly neutral and discuss details in private with your agent, away from the property.
- Limit the Love- With respect to strategy; if you gush about the property in front of other parties or write a letter to the seller about how much you love the property, you have shared too much. Further awkwardness is created if you proceed to escrow and discover undesirable info about the property, and make requests of the seller. The seller will recall the initial enthusiasm, and understandably, experience resentment.
- Value Your Agent’s Time- If you have your down payment funds available and are prequalified with a lender, you are ready to purchase. If these are not available, but you still want to search for property, your agent deserves to know that you are not ready to write an offer. Most agents’ compensation is only at the successful closing of a transaction, therefore, until closing, they are working for free. Ready to commit to an agent? Consider signing a Buyer-Broker representation contract to show you are ready. If you have a property tour set up by your agent, and you need to make schedule changes, let your agent know ASAP. Setting up a tour (and making changes to it) can take a significant amount of time, calls, and coordination with multiple parties.
- Be Safe- Some buyers are comfortable going on properties unaccompanied by their agent. Unless you have explicit authorization to go on the property parcel, you will be trespassing and should expect unpleasant surprises. These can include aggressive dogs, unmarked hazards, or confrontations with unfriendly residents. However, this can also reflect poorly on your agent, who may not know about your actions, but could be blamed for them by the other agent and/or seller.