Licensed real estate professionals bring state-mandated training and knowledge to the table for buyers and sellers. In fact, agents have to get as much, or more, training than what it would take for some college degrees before being given permission by the state to represent buyers and sellers in the transaction.

By the time a transaction is over, it is chock full of legally-binding documents controlling the transaction, pulling two parties together to exchange hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete a transaction that they may be involved in only a couple of times in their life.

Both the buyer and seller must perform to the contract, and most times, they don't even know how or what they're supposed to do to perform the paragraphs they just agreed to perform.

Nearly half of the buyers are purchasing for the first time, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Why should you have a real estate agent on your investing/buying/selling team when it comes to building wealth?

You've heard the term, "You get what you pay for," and that doesn't go wasted on agents as well. Many sellers would love to get through the transaction themselves, without any help from a "middle man," to save the commission dollars. It sounds like it makes sense, "Hey, why pay thousands of dollars of your money to sell a house when you can do it yourself?"

But every agent has a real estate license regulated by the state. This means they are knowledgeable about various aspects of real estate law, rules and regulations, such as:

 

1. What rights exist for land and how they can be traded

    

2. How title can be held and how to ensure clear title to the land

    

3. Financing: traditional, non-traditional, owner-held, etc.

    

4. Fair housing laws: federal, state and local

    

5. Local limits on the sale and trade of real estate

    

6. State disclosure laws and regulations on the trade of real estate

    

7. Contracts and forms

Most sellers and buyers I've talked with, while having access to plenty of "information" on the internet about the sales transaction, do not have a handle on the nuances, pitfalls, and inherent dangers of legal problems they can face in the midst of this huge investment.

Written by Becca Harris

Call me any time with your real estate questions, Becca Harris 253-495-0192.