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By Valerie Ahmed on September 24, 2009

People often ask if real estate agents are all “bad”.  That can be a tough question to answer even on a good day, but recently I had an eye – opening conversation with a prospective buyer.  The family financial situation was difficult, but stable, so a  decent home in a good school district seemed like a wise idea, especially since Uncle Sam is offering (up to) an $8000 tax credit for first time home buyers.  After discussing price, amenities like the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and other details, we moved on to the down payment, taxes and the possibility of Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI).  After plugging in the numbers that the buyer provided, I realized that a home purchase was probably not in the cards for this family.  This buyer failed to include taxes and PMI into the family budget – and, unfortunately, these expenses blew the budget.   This prospective buyer asked “why didn’t the other agents I talked to mention taxes or PMI?”   Good question.

She answered( her own question) a few minutes later — “they just wanted to sell me a house. ”  There are some great agents out there — make sure yours is working for you!