RETIREMENT TEAMWORK
Planning for your retirement is a team effort requiring research, cooperation and compromise. (You know the sort– he wants to live on the water, she wants to live in town!) Of course, the key team members are you and your spouse or significant other. Some folks might (or might not) want to include children and other family members in this adventure. Also key to this decision are your financial advisor and an experienced and knowledgeable Realtor. Actually, you will need one really good Realtor in each area you plan to consider. You need a Realtor who understands that this is a multi-visit and probably a multi-year process and that you are unlikely to buy a house on your first visit.
Most likely you will begin your research online, looking at areas of the country, researching towns and cities of interest, scrolling through homes available. The homes search will lead you to links to Realtors, their companies and their websites or company websites. But don’t stop there. This person is too important to your successful search. Before you get in the car for a look see, pick up the phone and call any Realtor you are considering working with. Get to know them and how they will work with you throughout this important process. Because this is where you may have to draw the line on a different kind of teamwork.
Some Realtors are moving to the team approach to real estate. This puts a primary Realtor at the head of the team with any number of team members handling a transaction. There can be buyer’s agents, listing agents, marketing coordinators, closing coordinators and even showing assistants. So while you may get excited about the qualifications of the primary Realtor you see online….you may not have an opportunity to work with this person. You may arrive in town and find yourself being driven around and shown homes by a “showing assistant”. This is often an inexperienced agent learning the ropes. In some cases you may not even meet that primary agent.
What you want is a Realtor who knows the area very well, is willing to give you a general orientation tour to introduce you to the various lifestyle options and neighborhoods and a Realtor who can handle your real estate transaction from start to finish without passing you off to two or three other people along the way. So be sure to ask: “Will I be working with you? Or, someone else on your team? “ “If I find a home I want to buy, will you handle the offer, the negotiations and coordinate the closing? “
If you decide to work with me on this important decision, you can be assured I will work with you personally from research to closing.