What I Offer to Buyers and Sellers
I seek out creative solutions to resolving problems and helping my clients save time and money, such as offering live or recorded video to those out of state, whether for repairs completed for sellers or showings for buyers.
To find creative solutions, I use the wealth of knowledge at Garrett Realty Partners, including that of my father, who has had a higher sales volume than anyone in many Hampton Roads cities when adding up sales from the past 30 years at the time of this writing. I also apply research techniques to find methods that people who have been in the industry for decades have never seen.
My honesty is both the biggest reason why sellers that interview me decide not to list with me and one of the top reasons why people that decide to work with me love me. I compete against other Realtors who know that by inflating the value that they say a home is worth and by telling them that it doesn't need any work even if it does that they will be more likely to get the listing. If you see my reviews and online recommendations, you will find multiple reviewers talk about how much I value ethics, taking care of my clients' best interest, etc.
When you work with me, you get a personalized feel with the kind of support that makes Garrett Realty Partners a one-stop-shop. I can personally help in areas that go beyond the realm of real estate. At the same time, for matters where my expertise is limited, I can connect you with others, such as the director of our senior division for elderly clients with real estate related senior-specific needs who can provide his services free of charge, lenders from multiple banks, a closing company, a GRP property management division, & a contractor service, who are all located in the Garrett Realty Partners corporate complex.
What I Offer to Buyers
I seek to fully educate buyers, thus my page dedicated to that here .
I can offer live or recorded video to those out of state with my state of the art Samsung Galaxy S-21 Ultra 5-G, whether for inspections, repairs completed, or showings.
I am a certified Airman by the FAA for small unmanned aircraft for commercial use & have a Mavic Air 2 drone available for showings (when permitted & beneficial, i.e. for dense acreage when no or limited aerial imagery is available online, when wondering about the view if you added a 2nd story, when wanting a close up of a roof without climbing on a ladder, etc.).
I'm regularly eyeing my next gadget, tool, etc. for real estate, with current additional options like a telescopic ladder with me for all showings available for scuttle access to attics, a thermal temperature reading to see the difference in temperature between one level and another and certain surfaces that would be significant sources of heat, a laptop & portable second screen at all times to boost productivity which is particularly helpful if you request to see a property within hrs of an offer deadline, powerful headlamps and flashlights for myself and buyers, a laser measurer to reduce your time in measurements of rooms, a toolbox, etc.
Buyer education is very important to me. While you'll find a lot of information here on my website, there's a lot of hidden information that I have available that's not on my website. Many buyers have found it difficult to know how to determine the quality of areas for considered properties. I have made a video which essentially solves this problem, which you can see here. Some buyers are rightfully concerned about flood zones, so again I made a video to explain how to see if a property is in a flood zone along with some other helpful information. Here's another on phantom property availability, where a property looks for sale but is actually under contract:
Many buyers are looking for down payment assistance and other resources to help them qualify or simply to save more money. To solve this problem, I have put together a list of down payment assistance programs and other programs to help buyers save and qualify, that is so comprehensive that I offer $500 to anyone who has a more comprehensive list without copying mine. These programs include literally half off homes, no down payment loans up to $1,000,000, a program to buy where "credit score (is) not considered", $40,000 in down payment assistance, 0% interest loans, and otherwise.
Many buyers want or need to boost their credit score prior to purchasing a home to increase eligiblity and minimize their rates and other expenses. I can help buyers to increase their score for free, and have successfully helped a number of people to raise their credit scores. I share about that here.
In addition to helping to raise people's credit score, I can also help them to maximize the profits of having and maintaining a good credit score, including through points and cashback credit cards, as I list here. For those with FICO credit scores over 700, I can usually help them save at least $1,000 annually, and with those with higher spending, including businesses, I have been able to help save 10's of thousands of dollars in under a year.
Many buyers are looking for a deal. Those that know me well know that I love deals, and have since I was a child. Naturally, that applies to real estate. For instance, with my own home, I purchased the foreclosure during an owner occupant only period where most investors who were not planning on living in it couldn't purchase it. I boosted my credit score to be above 760, the point at which you get the lowest PMI if putting less than 20% down and the lowest interest rate. I used down payment assistance to cover most of my down payment and used a conventional renovation mortgage loan which covered most of the needed repairs. The seller paid for most of my closing costs. You can usually get a better deal on homes that need repairs. I then found cost-effective means of contractors doing most of the work with me and my family doing a little work that required minimal skill. The result was that even though I put down less than 2.5%, with the after repair appraisal I had around 25% equity on the property.
Many buyers have specific search requirements, such as homes that are in areas eligible for USDA loans, Hub zones, or otherwise. Most agents are unwilling to take the time to create searches on MLS to satisfy these requirements, but I have found that it can be done, and have performed searches including but not limited to each of those in order to help fulfill the needs of prospective buyers. Here are some examples. Sometimes just one of those sort of searches takes multiple hours to put together, but they can be done and I have put forth that effort. For some buyers, I have created more than a dozen separate searches to satisfy their specific needs, with automatic updates coming on a daily basis as new properties hit the market. Here's an example excluding hurricane evacuation zones:
While some buyers prefer written notes, and others prefer audio notes for a more interactive experience, my property notes that I create for buyers who prefer written notes are so thorough that I am not just getting positive feedback from the buyers I work with, but from listing agents as well who sometimes ask for feedback. Agents that do not work for my company that I have never met before are saying things like the following:
1. That may be the absolute best feedback response I have ever received. Show our listings ANYTIME! Thank you!
2. Wow!! Very thorough!!
3. Wow! Thank you for the informative feedback Adam!
4. Wow.... this is the most detailed feedback and is appreciated (smile/hug emoji)
5. I have to say that is one of the best review feedback ever in my real estate career. Thank you Adam.