I recently mentioned that I was homestaging my property to put it up for sale. Since I am in a real estate mood, I’ve decided to continue on and post about which professionals can help you prepare for a real estate transaction.

Real Estate Agent

I’ll tell you upfront, I don’t appreciate real estate agents. I think we are paying them too much for what they offer.  Just about anyone can take picture of their property and put it on a website.

However, when you are looking to buy a property, they can be a invaluable. Once they understand your needs, they can pull out the listings and make the appointments for visits without you having doing anything. They can also help you analyze a few properties if you can’t make a decision. So in my opinion, using a real estate agent for a sale is a big no, but I would consider one to help me buy a property.

Notary / Lawyer

Notaries and lawyers are very important in real estate transactions as they prepare the legal documents to ensure a safe, honest, transparent transaction between both parties. Their advice can be very useful when you are considering making your offer.

Inspector

I would definitely use the services of an inspector if you are buying a property older than 5 years. He will go from the basement to the roof to make sure there are no defects in the property. Definitely a must when you want to avoid further pain in the future!

Appraiser

The appraiser is not much of a big help but I wanted to mention it because people are often confused between the inspector and the appraiser. The real estate appraiser will assign a current market value to your property but won’t examine it to make sure it’s in good condition (besides obvious thing like crack in the walls).

Financial Advisor / Banker

Your financial advisor or banker will be of a great help in terms of choosing the type of mortgage and how much you can borrow to buy your property. If he’s smart enough, he will be able to explain the different advantages of variable and a fixed rate mortgages as well as home equity lines of credit. He will challenge you about your original plan and offer you a “real” credit solution to your project.

These are probably the 5 experts that will help you out when buying or selling a property. Besides the real estate agent, I am using them all 😉

Author: Mike.

Mike

Mike

Mike, aka The Dividend Guy, authors The Dividend Guy Blog since 2010 and manages portfolios at Dividend Stocks Rock. He is a passionate investor.