We’re thrilled to be back with another real estate post today, and thought we’d tackle this little topic: Buying a home! If you’re in the market now or will be in the future, we want to provide you with valuable information for navigating the real estate market. We can help you make that next purchase. So let’s dive in, shall we?
Starting off: We loved sharing some helpful tips in our last post, pertaining to this one. We hope you’ll start there if you’re curious!
We want to help you on your home journey. So here’s how we think you should pick that Real Estate agent in Nashville: Just email me: jamin @ thehandmadehome.net -really, it’s that easy. All joking {and shameless plugs} aside, a reader did write in and ask a very good question after our last post:
“It seems that in Nashville, I can throw a rock and hit ten Real Estate agents, and they all say “top producer” or some other self-promoting thing that sounds vague. You don’t aggressively self-promote. Can you share why someone should call you over the other ten million choices?”
Great question. And yes, as I addressed in the last post, there are a ton of Real Estate agents out there, and not all of them should be in the business of helping people find a home. It can be a “default career” that people tend to fall into, without knowing much about homes or doing the work behind it. Remember when I mentioned the national pass rate on the licensing exam is 50% on the first try? Y’all, that is not good, no matter how you measure it. That means if you do throw that stone, you have a 1 in 2 chance of hitting an agent that doesn’t really know that much. Remember you only need a 70% to pass. {I also mentioned in the last post I made a 98% and not because I’m über-smart; I just know homes because I’ve been living and breathing them from the inside out, for years.}
Eventually, those who fail the test will pass it, and they will sell homes. Maybe lots of homes. Heck, they might put that little top producer title in their bio at some point, but that doesn’t mean they know homes, and it certainly doesn’t mean I would want them advising me. Why am I talking about this? Because I can’t tell you how many mistakes we’ve seen other agents make that shouldn’t have been missed, if they knew their stuff. It’s important. Detrimental.
So what sets The Handmade Home apart in the realty industry?
• Choosing a Nashville Real Estate agent – Knowledge Base
Isn’t that what we all want when we go to someone for advice? A helpful knowledge base. Whether it is the Doctor, the florist, or even the waiter, we are banking on someone with more expertise in a certain area to help us make a solid decision. The problem comes in when they have the job but don’t understand the landscape.
Imagine asking a waiter at a fancy restaurant what cut of steak they recommend, and they advise you to order a certain cut of steak, that ends up being pretty subpar. The waiter says, “Oh well, it looked really good, and I figured the butcher and chef would do a good job, but honestly, I don’t eat meat, so I don’t really know a lot about cuts of steak.”
That’s a weird analogy, but stay with me because the real estate industry can be the same. There are a lot of people who did the things to get the job, and they know what forms to fill out as well as how to get the customer to “order”, but when it comes to understanding what they ordered, well, they just don’t have that knowledge base.
• Choosing a Nashville Real Estate agent – Our Knowledge Base is Wider for the Buyer.
I always tell my clients that with us, you get more than a negotiator; we know how to do that working countless contracts in multiple levels with what we do. You get more than someone who can analytically think through the selling process and the forms {again, 98% on the test}. And you get more than someone who can do a little research. Good story. Because while all those things are great, I’m not sure any of them are special.
But what does set us apart is that we are also a nationally recognized design and renovation company. We are not only looking out for you in all the common agent ways, but we are looking beyond the transaction. What type of home is it? How was it built? What are your options to make it better? What hidden things about it do most people and Real Estate agents not see? {Local codes, rules, and the unexpected apply here.}
We’re also looking at it from a design standpoint and whether it can meet your style as well as the needs of your family. Will that trendy kitchen we’re looking at stand the test of time, or how can we redesign that space into something you love?
We offer the luxury of having any type of design, cosmetic change, or renovation conversations in real-time, because it’s in our DNA. We’ve done this. A lot.
Choosing a Nashville Real Estate agent – Assisting in Big Decisions.
This is the first question that you should wrestle with, and it’s probably the one where most agents are under-equipped to help you.
Your home has possibilities; you just haven’t seen them yet, and that’s where we excel in assisting you. We can dream up all the scenarios for you, along with the estimated cost, so that we can have everything on the table as you make the decision. As we have written, a few changes might make you fall in love with your house all over again. They say, the grass isn’t always greener, and you need an agent to sit with you to work through that discussion. You need someone who isn’t focused on selling your house but is focused on you and your family achieving what is best for you.
Choosing a Nashville Real Estate agent – Our Experience is Wider for the Buyer.
We’ve been through our fair share of photoshoots where the home was the featured product, and we are well-versed in the world of advertising. We have a layered history with magazines and commercial work, and collaborate regularly with brands that call on us to help shoot their products for campaigns. All that to say, helping a house present at its best, or knowing what little changes will make huge impacts is all within our wheelhouse.
If there are some minor changes we need to make, to help your house put its best foot forward and show a little better, or even a full on renovation, we can help. As a one-stop, full-service business, we can bring all the sources to you. Because we are designers, we might just have some ideas up our sleeves, alongside some tricks to help you maximize the potential of your home.
Did we mention we do marketing pretty well? Because of what we do, we’re accustomed to marketing products for national brands in new and creative ways. If you didn’t realize you needed to market your home when you sell it, let’s just add that to the list.
Choosing a Nashville Real Estate agent – It’s Not Only About the Sale.
Most real estate agents are focused on getting you to the closing table. Why? because they’ve been told that’s the goal, and let’s be honest, that’s when they get paid.
I don’t blame them one bit. After all, you started working with them to sit at the closing table, right? I just think it’s a misplaced goal. The closing table is just another step in the process; the goal is for you to be thrilled with where you live, and that might not come for a little time. We take a holistic approach to the home and Real Estate; buying and selling are just one part. Our experience tells us that most people don’t know what to do with the home after they buy it. This is also what leads to most people becoming dissatisfied with their homes. So we want to be there to offer our experience and knowledge to you as you find and buy that home, but also to be a resource as you make it a home you love and work for you.
Choosing a Nashville Real Estate agent – Our Gift
One of the things we like to do for our clients, whether you stay in Nashville or not, is to offer 5 hours of design and consulting services on your new home. It’s our way of helping remove a little piece of that stress in getting settled.
Gifts from agents aren’t unusual, but this is why we’re different; we want to give you what we know and help you make your house a real home. Just another way we work hand in hand with our amazing clients.
A Resource
At the end of the day, we want to be a resource to you, which is why we write so much about Real Estate and why we offer to help you connect with an agent we know in the new town you are moving to.
Real Estate is an interesting beast, and having an agent that can pull the curtains back and help navigate what will most likely be the biggest purchase of your life is essential. As they say, you don’t know what you don’t know, and that’s where a good realtor comes in. We’re here to help you walk through the largest transaction of your life and answer any questions about your home or potential home that you might have. Please let us know if you have any questions, or if we can help point you in the right direction. We’d love to hear from you.
If you’re in the Middle Tennessee area, I’d love to meet you and help you find the perfect home; you can sign up here so we can start the process. And even if you aren’t in Middle Tennessee, contact us here, and we will take care of you no matter where you live. There is no reason to go it alone.
Be sure to check out the rest of our real estate series, here.
Contact us here to work with us + here to talk all things renovations!
Have an inspired day!
Leave a Reply