Want Real Estate Help? Get a Local Yokel !!
Need Real Estate help ? You had better work with a local. Why ?? 'Cause they "know the territory".
Every month or so, I get on my soapbox and implore all of you Tooele, Stansbury Park, and Grantsville people to hire a Realtor from this area when you get ready to buy or sell a home.
To me, it makes total sense. The old adage, all "Real Estate is local" means what it says. Buying a home or selling your house can be unique to an area.
You'd be surprised at how many Californians, relocating to Utah, fail to appreciate a good basement, or how people moving to Tooele from various parts of the country have never seen a swamp cooler.
These examples are pretty obvious and pretty silly I know. But what about this one? How important is this scenario, if you're a buyer or seller? (or agent for that matter)
SCENE 1. We had a listing. Berna ran comps and we felt it was priced right where it should be priced. We have an offer in a couple of weeks. Almost list price.
SCENE 2. Two weeks later, appraisal comes in on home at less than selling price.
SCENE 3. Berna goes ballistic !! (Berna does not like her CMAs being challenged)
SCENE 4. Berna and I have the following conversation...."Chris , this comparable house that they are using is wrong. I sold this house 8 years ago when so & so bought it, and I listed it for so & so, when they sold it to the people from Arkansas. You were on tour there last week, did someone take out the basement". Well of coarse they hadn't, but by not counting a full basement, a comp was undervalued, and the appraisal wouldn't fit. An agent 60 miles away wouldnt know where to start. ( nor take the time to go to the courthouse to pull the tax records so the appraiser would redo the work).
SCENE 5. All parties notified, changes made. ( Berna is diplomatic).
SCENE 6. Home closes, Home buyer happy, Home seller ecstatic, other Realtor grateful. Berna?.. Smug!!!
There are a lot of lessons to be learned in this story. The first one is hire a local Realtor, which is where we started all this. The second is more subtle......
Hire someone that over the last 14 years has probably been in every house in Tooele, Stansbury Park and Grantsville Utah at least once, almost never misses a property tour, and figures that an appraisal is just a way of validating her CMA.
Hire Berna to list or sell your home.
Berna can be reached at 435-840-5029. Or visit our website, Tooele Real Estate to see what she has to say about Real Estate and the Tooele market.
Finally .... If you want Real Estate help, get a local yokel. Get Berna.!!!!