When you’re buying a home, you need to get as much information out of the agent as possible. In this real estate vlog Henry goes over some important questions that will help you do this.
“Hi, I’m Henry Wong. You looked at a few houses and you found a particular house that you really, really like. You’re thinking, “what kind of questions should we be asking the agent, or should I be asking the agent?”
Here we go: Number one, you should be asking the agent is “why are they selling?” The reason why you ask this question is you want to determine how motivated the owners are. Are they selling because it’s a deceased estate? Are they selling because they’ve got a job in a new location? Are they selling because they’re moving to a retirement village? That’s the reason why you ask this question.
Number two, you want to ask the agent “how long has it been on the market?” Why you ask this question is if it’s been on the market, say for nine months, and there are no cost reductions, obviously, more than likely, the owner’s asking too much money. Also, if it has been on the market for nine months, and the agent is saying, “Oh no, it’s been on the market about one to two months,” you know the agent is not being entirely honest with you. One is to see, I guess determine the seller’s motivation a bit more, and number two, you should try to test the agent’s honesty.
A few more questions you can ask is, number three, “have there been any offers?” Obviously, you don’t know for sure whether there has been one, two or three offers; but what you can do is you look at the agent right in the eye, and you ask them, “Have there been any offers?” Now, the agents telling the truth, they’ll say, “Look, we’ve got some interests, but we haven’t had any offers.” Ask them, “Have you had any written offers?” That is signed contracts or signed expressions of interest; not verbal offers, written offers. That will determine how serious your competitors are when you’re competing to buy for this property. Also, when you’re looking the agent straight in the eye, you will know whether or not the agent’s being honest with you.
Number four, “are there any issues with the property?” What I mean by that is you can ask the agent has it been flooded before; have they had extensive repairs on the house; are there any issues with the foundations; have they had any termite damage inside or outside the house. That’s what I mean by are there any issues with the property. Also, you can say are there any concerns. Is there any easement that we need to be aware of?
Our last question … I get this from some buyers in particular: “is it a deceased estate?” What I mean by that is has anyone passed away here. If it’s a deceased estate and the current owners, one of them passed away, or the owners have passed away, so now it’s the siblings that’s looking out for the sale, the agent has to tell you. As far as I know, according to Queensland law, the agent has to tell you if the current property they’re selling is a deceased estate. If they know, they have to tell you.
There you have it, these are the five most common questions on asking an agent if you’re really interested in a property.”
