Maine Lakefront Real Estate Buyers Should Take Full Advantage of Their Buyer’s Agent

Maine Lakefront Real Estate – Ice out!!! You Can Bet On It!
March 22, 2008
Grassroots Group Fights State on Naples Causeway Bridge Proposal
March 28, 2008

Maine Lakefront Real Estate Buyers Should Take Full Advantage of Their Buyer’s Agent


A lot of our customers who are looking to purchase a nice piece of Maine waterfront property often live some distance from Maine and are thinking in terms of purchasing a second home, rather than a primary residence. When you live three or more hours away from the property you might be interested in buying it can pay off big time when you use your buyer’s agent to your fullest advantage.
Any capable buyer’s agent should be able to show you property, help negotiate an offer, and handle all the paperwork to closing. But if you live some distance from the area you’re thinking of buying in, you need your agent to do much more. Having your agent be your eyes, ears, and “feet on the ground” before you come to look at property can save you time, money, and frustrating hours looking at inappropriate listings once you do get here to have a look.
I was out looking at properties the other day with our buyer’s broker, Diane Monaco. She has a client in Connecticut who will be coming up to look at properties in a few weeks. The client has a pretty good idea what she wants – east shore waterfront, good access to the water, 3 bedroom, year round house, and under $550,000 – but wasn’t that particular about the size of the lake because she isn’t a boating/waterskiing person; only wants to take a swim now and then and have a good view of the lake from the house.
Diane has a pretty good knowledge of the current inventory and had seen several of the proeprties already that her client might be interested in, but there were several others that were either new to the market or that she hadn’t seen yet, so off we went to preview these properties. We took a full day and saw nine in all. Diane called her client the next day, gave her a complete rundown of what she had seen and, together, they were able to eliminate seven of the nine.
Now this may seem like a pretty sensible thing to have your buyer’s agent do, but you’d be surprised how many propsective buyers think they can winnow their field of possibilities just by looking at listings on a computer screen and locating them on a Google map, thereby avoiding any “unnecessary” contact with a buyer’s agent until the last possible moment.
Now, I’m all for independent thinking, but this is folly. So many times potential buyers will walk through our doors, thinking they’re all ready to go look at property, only to find out, after consulting with a buyer’s agent about the listings they have chosen, that there can be a lot of important information that doesn’t show up on a listing sheet or a Google map.
Is it good to do some homework before looking at property? Of course. But take full advantage of the market knowledge and previewing capabilities of a buyer’s agent. Let them be your eyes, ears, and “feet on the ground” before you make the drive up here. Let them help you get the most out of  the time you do spend here looking at property. 
***************************************************
If you’re interested in looking at Maine lakefront real estate you can get started right here by using our Lakefront Locator feature.
If you enjoyed reading this post and would like to be automatically emailed any time a new post is published use this RSS feed feature. It’s simple! And no obligation.

Stay Informed

Get the latest lake news delivered direct from Maine’s lake expert, Tom Ferent