Questions You Should Ask Your Real Estate Agent in Long Island NY

Research, shortlisting houses, estimating market value, visiting each house, negotiation, and paperwork, are just a few things essential in the process of purchasing a new property. Due to the extent of work and time required, the majority of the people opt for a real estate agent rather than going through the process independently. Yes, hiring an agent is the recommended suggestion. 

By now you are probably familiar with the pros of hiring a real estate agent. However, once you move forward to the house visit part, here are a few questions that you should ask your real estate agent about the property. The purpose of asking these questions is to help yourself foresee any red flags and make a better decision about your purchase.

Since few of these answers will require going back into official documents and data, your agent may ask for time, and it’s okay.

What Questions Should You Ask Your Real Estate Agent In Long Island NY?

As a side note, you should never shy away from asking your agent questions. One of the benefits of hiring an agent is that they acquire the information that you wouldn’t get surfing independently. 

What is the market value of this house and what are houses of a similar market value?

Several agents do not right away tell you the market value and the homeowners may have put up an overestimated price. Ask your agent right away the market value of the house and also ask to get the “comps” of other properties. “Comps” in real estate terms refer to the comparison between several different properties in the same market value. You can get comps for the houses of the same market value or for similar houses but with different market values. Exploring the comps for more properties will help you decide better and you can even stumble upon a better offer.

Through the market value of the house, you can determine any red flags. Oftentimes the property looks up to date but the market value situation is very similar to what you see in movies; a family buys the perfect house at the cheapest rates but soon after moving in they realize the several reasons why the house was listed at such cheap rates.

What is the neighborhood like? What are the nearby markets?

If you are buying your first house this question may seem silly to ask. However real estate agents are seasoned to the information about the neighborhood and market. For example: when a real estate is hired to sell a house rather quickly for any reason, then the agent hypes the potential customers on all the pros of the neighborhood and nearby area/market.

Since you are buying the house with the intention to at least live there a couple of years, it is necessary to know about your neighborhood deal. Knowing about the nearest commercial areas always plays a good part in deciding on the house and also influence the market value of the house.

What is the owner’s reason for selling this house and if there are any seller disclosures?

Do you ever look at the perfect house at the perfect price and wonder why anyone would sell? Well, there are several negative and positive reasons an owner sells his house but some of the reasons you should be concerned with are market value, neighborhood, home improvement cost, any legal matters and etc.

By law, the real estate agents are bound to disclose any property issues to the intentional buyers but there is a loophole. The real estate companies are bound to disclose any property mishaps of the past five years only. Many real estate agents use this opportunity to conceal facts that may influence your decisions. Even the lightest additional information about the house can help you foresee any red flags. Ask your real estate agent even the slightest details that cross your mind.

Another important question you should ask your real agent is how long the owners lived here.

How many times and how long has this house been on the market?

If a house has been on the market for very long and has been listed on the market as well several times then there is definitely a problem that you need to inquire about.

One of the traits of good houses is that they sell very quickly at a good price. Ask your agent how long the property has been open for sale on the market and what the potential deal-breaker was for the previous potential buyers. Ask your agent to check how many times this property has been on the market. If the property has been listed consistently, that is your red flag.

What are the recent improvements and upgrades made to the property?

At least 60% of the house owners make some kind of upgrade and improvement in the house to boost up the property value in the market. These property improvements give the house a nice and newly constructed look and can save you from future labor and investment in the house. However, what if the handyman job was not done up to the mark and soon after the purchase you start facing problems? In such scenarios, you may buy the house at reasonable rates but the total after repairs would be much higher.

Asking about all new work, you can inspect the house from a new perspective and even check if the handyman work is done is of quality. You can also hire a professional to inspect the house and provide you the report. You can use this report to negotiate the prices. These are just a few questions you should ask your real estate agent and make a calculated decision on the responses. If there are any issues one or two red flags will pop up from these questions. Hire a good Real Estate Agent in Long Island NY and you will probably don’t have to go the extra mile to look for any possible red flags.