Geeks will rule the world, right? Or is that the nerds? But in either case, buyers and sellers should have a tech-savvy Realtor on their side.
I’d like to share with you what happened when I represented my sellers with a tech-UN-savvy buyer’s agent. I felt horrible for these buyers as their agent nearly cost her clients not only the opportunity to purchase this home, but also inadvertently waived their contingencies and earnest money, and cost her buyers additional rent money, all because she didn’t know how to use a fax, a scanner, email or her computer.
This is a cautionary tale that all buyers and sellers should heed when hiring an agent. It isn’t a given that all agents are tech-savvy so be sure to ask!
If your agent hand-writes an entire offer or listing agreement, really question them why they are handwriting it. Today, tech-savvy agents can write an offer on their smart phones or tablets, email it to the clients for their e-signatures and then send that off to the listing agent – all without having to print out one piece of paper or get out a ballpoint pen.
With my transaction, the buyer’s agent hand-wrote the offer, but the problem was she wrote the offer on outdated contracts. If she had visited our MLS site, she 1) would have read the bulletin that we have new contract forms, 2) would have downloaded the correct forms. Because there were significant changes, the offer had to be re-written, which caused one of the delays that almost cost her buyers the opportunity to buy the house.
Can your agent deliver ….documents, that is? This is a big, big reason how and why tech-UN-savvy agents can cause havoc for their clients.
First, the buyer’s agent had problems delivering the offer to me. Because this took her several days, I had, in the meantime, received another offer, and now her buyers had to compete with another buyer.
Second, she inadvertently waived her buyer’s inspection contingency. She was unable to deliver the inspection response to me by the deadline in the contract. Therefore her buyers, 1) did not get to negotiate any repairs with the seller, and 2) could not end the contract and get their earnest money returned.
Third, because this agent could not deliver documents to the escrow company on time, closing was delayed. Her buyers had to extend their lease and the sellers had to adjust their close date on their next home they were purchasing.
Yes, there are wonderful, knowledgeable real estate professionals out there who are not tech-savvy, and yes, there is more to a real estate transaction than just scanning a document and e-signing, but this agent should not be in business based on the harm she did cause and what she could have caused her buyers all because of a technicality – literally.
If you are planning to buy or sell, please make sure your Realtor is tech-savvy. I am! Contact me today!