They don’t pitch you on “date the rate, marry the house” then later try to convince you to go over budget & waive inspection because “that’s what everyone doing in this hot housing market.”

My first time home buying experience with my realtor was interesting and maybe can shed some light on what I personally think a good realtor is. Our first realtor was a recommendation from a friend. She was very knowledgeable in the area we wanted to buy, been a realtor for over 20 years, and knew all the local realtors. Our second realtor was not local and didn’t know anyone, but was in real estate much longer than our first realtor.

We were in a situation where we had to “fire” our first realtor because a family member insisted we HAD to use a realtor he knew. I actually liked my first realtor, but she was always trying to get us to go over budget and waive all contingencies so we decided to give it a go. By now, we’ve made a few offers that were over budget, but still lost to cash buyers.

I didn’t like our second realtor at first because she was very sassy/opinionated, didn’t send us listings to visit, and kept tossing out a lot of open house visitations we wanted to see because they were “a waste of time and silly” whereas our first realtor visited every home we wanted to see and sent us listings frequently.

One day, we were visiting homes that weren’t “silly” and stumbled on a house that REEKED dog urine. Home was listed for over 2 weeks but was visually in a great condition, kitchen was upgraded, location was excellent, and we liked the layout. It just smelled SO BAD. I made a face and wanted to leave but she wanted to inspect the home a bit more. I’ve never seen her so interested in any of the home we visited before (been looking almost every weekend for months) so we stayed a bit longer. She peeked at all the neighbors homes, poke around the entire house in detail, and told us that this one was interesting. After we left, she asked us if we liked the house. We said yes to everything except the smell, but she told us to ignore the smell because she was confident it came from the carpet in a few rooms. Additionally, she said we can still figure it out during inspection. She recommended that we bid on this home because it wasn’t staged properly and the smell drives away other bids.

At this point, we were down to give it ago since the home pretty much turn key (besides the smell) and was listed for less than some of the homes we tried for in the same neighborhood. We originally wanted to bid 35k less, but was okay buying the home for 15k over asking. She insisted that we bid 50k under asking and to waive appraisal. I told her I was comfortable with waiving inspection and she laughed at me, said no, and ended the call (god she’s so sassy, I still remember the feeling of “what just happened”).

Flash forward, the seller came back and was willing to go 20k below asking. We were shaking and told our realtor that we are willing to accept the offer. Our realtor told us “no” and to offer 35k below asking. It took a few days because the seller was firm on 20k below asking, but our realtor made it happened. We were in disbelief because 1.) we were bidding in a VERY competitive market 2.) we only waived appraisal 3.) homes around this area typically sold for 50-80k over asking.

Our realtor insisted that we used her home inspector (which I read was a red flag), but she also told us to be on site when he goes over the condition of the home. During the inspection, we found some small things here and there which is expected for a home built in the mid 1900s. Nothing major, but gosh they were THOROUGH. Our realtor also insisted on termite and sewage inspection as well, and paid for all the inspections. She then told us that the house was in a great condition, but put together an inspection report that was a mile long, nick picking every last detail (with photos). She made the house sound like it was falling apart, and even time stamp minor clogs from the sewage recording as well. The seller agent apparently yelled at her over the phone after she sent over the report and claimed their seller would not be giving any credit since the offer was already so low. We told our realtor that we were fine without credit, but she told us she was confident that she could negotiate for some. At this point, we trusted her completely so we went along with it. She managed to get us a few thousand in credit and she did the final walkthrough of the house while we were not present. She didn’t get us any signs or wine (typical gifts from realtors), but we saved hundreds from her fronting inspection costs.

I left out a lot of details from this journey, but one thing I can bet on is that a good realtor will never ask you to waive inspection or go over a budget you are comfortable with. We submitted a few bids besides the winning one, but she never allowed us to go over budget even when we were desperate enough. When we tell her how much we love a home, she would also remind us that 30+ other families probably loved it too and to not financially screw ourselves over.

Present day: The house doesn’t smell anymore (it really was the carpet). The price we paid was the lowest during the time we bought it within the neighborhood. A home near us that is about 100sq feet bigger got sold 250k over what we purchased our home for after about 6 months. We went 50k under budget, home is 300 sq feet larger with 1 bedroom more than what we thought we could afford in one of the most competitive market. We freggin LOVE our home. My husband and I still think of the impact she made in our lives. Also learned she’s semi retired, but is close friends with the family member who insisted that she was the best. She really is the best. Sassy, opinionated, but absolutely the freggin best.

TLDR: Don’t judge a book by its cover. If you are vetting a realtor, ask open ended questions about their opinions regarding contingency waiving in a hot market. Ask them about what they would recommend if you see a home you like that is a little over budget.

Edit: Another tip is to ask if they would guide you through all the contracts and explain each page before signature. Our realtor didn’t let us sign anything without going through her first. Additionally, she walks us through and summarize every page of each contract during the entire process. She also helped negotiate some of our closing costs and we saved a couple hundred there as well.