Before meeting with me, I have had many clients come to me with some misconceptions or some incorrect ideas about how real estate works and how all of these things really fit together.
So, in this video, I’m gonna break down the five key myths that I see people have prior to coming with me.
So the first one is, this one is particularly in regards to home buyers, a lotta home buyers think that they need to have 20% down. In my experience, the most common down payment that I’m seeing here in the Rochester area is between three and 5%. And honestly, there are so many really great programs available for home buyers right now.
Today, I see more programs available for home buyers than I have seen at any point in my career. One of my favorite programs is the Minnesota Housing Loan. When I first got into this business, it was an $8,000 loan that you would get from the State of Minnesota. It was interest-free that would help you purchase a property. Nowadays, it’s 12,500. And there’s also additional programs like the WISH program. There’s another one I just got an email from a loan officer this morning about. If this is something you are interested in and you wanna know what these look like, please reach out to me. I mean it when I say that I have had home buyers purchase properties for less than $1,000 out of pocket and this is a very, very real program.
The second one is, and I see this from a lot of, you know, younger people or people who maybe had, you know, bad credit issues in the past or something that had adversely affected them, is that they don’t think that they will ever be able to purchase a home. What it really comes down to is income, assets, and credit history. If you understand how those three things work, like I do, you will understand how it is that you can get to a point where you can actually purchase a property.
And also, if you have spoken to a loan officer or a bank and they did not get you qualified or they were not able to get you qualified at the price point that you want, I always encourage people to get a second opinion. I have had home buyers speak to one bank, we got them pre-approved at 150,000, and then they spoke to another bank, got ’em pre-approved at 250,000. I’ve seen swings in mortgage insurance, which if you don’t know what that is, that is the amount of money that the banks will charge you for paying less than 20% down, in some situations. Every situation is kind of volatile and that’s a deeper conversation with that as well. But in my experience, even with people who have had issues with their credit history or with getting qualified for a loan, I can usually get into a situation where they’re either ready to get qualified or at least on the right path within three to four months.
Next one is more for home sellers, and this is something I’m starting to see a little bit more today than what I was seeing here in the last years. But a lot of sellers seem to think that they want to price high so they’ll have a little bit more room to negotiate when it comes to selling their property. In my experience, that is a very, very bad idea. If you have someone who is an expert negotiator, like myself, I’ve been doing this for 12 years, I hold multiple credentials in this, I’ve won awards in negotiations, then you will be just fine if you price it appropriately and get the right buyer. In today’s market, you probably will not see eight to 10 offers on your property. If we get one good offer, then that’s something that we need to make sure that we’re working with. And we need to make sure that you have a skilled negotiator who can show you how to do that. But by pricing too high, you will eliminate the number of buyers that’ll be interested in your property and your house will sit as well.
The fourth, the less commission that I pay, the more that I will save. Now, this is something that is so incorrect. If you look at the data analytics online, a lot of situations will show you that if you take a agent who’s lowering their commission, oftentimes, they’re not lowering the total amount that they are taking home. They’re lowering what they’re paying to the buyer’s agent who’s bringing the buyer for your property. I wanna explain to you how crucial it is that you pay a fair co-op commission to the buyer’s agent who’s bringing you a buyer in today’s market. If one listing is offering a higher commission and yours is offering a lower commission to the buyer’s agent, there are some agents out there who may not show those properties. Right or wrong, that is definitely a thing that I have seen out there. I always offer a fair commission to the buyer’s agent on the other side and I make sure that I get a fair commission for my team and our energy and results as well. We are very fair on the market value, and I wanna make sure that I’m clear on this. If you pay a lower commission to your agent, that doesn’t mean that you are going to save more money. You get what you pay for. And you always wanna make sure that you’re offering a fair amount to the buyer’s agent on the other side as well or that could really, really hurt you in the sale of your home as well.
And finally, that all agents are the same. This is something that I know to be empirically not true. See, I own the digital marketing space in the Rochester area. If you go on Google, you type in top real estate agent in Rochester, I’m the one who is gonna show up. If you are on Facebook or Instagram or YouTube right now watching these things, you know these things work, because I’m constantly showing up on these areas. I’m available and I’m responsive. This is actually probably one of the biggest complaints that consumers have about the real estate agents that they work with is that they sign an agreement with that agent and then they never hear from that agent again.
If you reach out to me today, I will respond to you today. I am that good at these things. I am always here and I’m available to my people to make sure that we’re helping out. And if I’m not available, we’ll make sure that there is someone who is available to help you out as well. I also run one of the top real estate teams here in the Rochester area, so I have three agents here who are also in the marketplace every day. So we know what is going on. We are having conversations every day and we’re meeting here in my office to talk about these things. I’ve also been a finalist for Rochester’s best real estate agent here the last two years, and I do more in a month than many of your 20-year-old veterans will do all year. So this is definitely something that you need to make sure that you are working with someone who is experienced, knowledgeable, and available to answer your calls. So remember, if you are watching this, I am working real estate today and I challenge you to try to connect with me.
Call me, I will respond to you quickly.
