I have gotten savier with buying homes in the last few years working in real estate.
You have to grow a thick skin and ignore the scam artists and hucksters who try to use their arrogant confidence to steam roll over you and take advantage of your lack of experience.
But once you learn how to spot these people, they’re much easier to avoid. I’d rather spend my days jumping through hoops for picky customers that don’t know what they want as they meander through one property after the next if it means avoiding an aggressive con artist! On top of that, many of the people I work with on a daily basis are pleasant and have no intentions of being uncooperative or difficult if they can avoid it. I enjoy it when I meet someone who is particularly nice or comes from the same state as I do originally. I try to give my clients as much advice as they’re willing to take, especially with residential HVAC systems. The state of the home’s HVAC system has a huge influence on the value of the home. If the HVAC system is under five to 10 years old, that means it won’t need replacing for a while and you don’t need to necessarily factor it into the price. But if the a/c or furnace is almost 15 years old or more, then that absolutely needs to be added to the price of the house. I always demand a price reduction in these situations, much to my buyer’s surprise. They’re over brimmed with happiness when it actually works.