We want you to be THRILLED with your buying experience AND with your new home!  That’s why Buyers Advantage Real Estate was created.

From Judith Clausen – 877-570-4469 Toll Free, 303-587-3509 Cell

Years of experience taught me that buyers and sellers need special representation and a REALTOR® of their own they can trust, so in 2004 I decided to develop my own business as an Exclusive Buyer Agent brokerage. Why, you might ask, did I no longer want to work with sellers?  I learned in the years before 2004 that working with sellers wasn’t always rewarding. Sellers tend to blame their agents when the house doesn’t sell, even though there are a host of good reasons why it isn’t selling, but in my experience it was mostly price.

Sellers have a way of thinking their house is worth more than what the market will bear, and they think their agent doesn’t know anything about proper pricing.  But if there’s one thing real estate agents know, it’s price.

When I first started in real estate many years ago I learned two things about price from a very good manager/trainer, Jim Slinkard.

  1. If a house isn’t selling and everything else is fine — location,  curb appeal, no clutter, depersonalization, updating, etc. — then it’s the price! Lower it until you reach what that property will sell for, which is known as “market value.”
  2. The second  is a question. When do you want to move? If your answer as a seller is “right away,” then you’ll need to list below what comparable homes in the neighborhood are selling for. If your answer is “six months,” then you can list just above what everything else is selling for. If your answer is, “I don’t care how long it takes, we’re in no hurry,” then you can list for the “long-term” price and wait for it to sell. Most sellers, though, start out at the long-term price while needing to move now! Bad strategy, and they always blame the agent and start looking around for someone else.

Another thing that I’d rather not deal with is sellers who are resistant to doing what they have to to make their house marketable. Sellers are remarkably resistant when it comes to painting over what used to be Home & Garden TV’s latest color fads, or pulling up some overgrown shrubs blocking the entryway to the house, or putting away all their personal photos and knicknacks, or updating the lighting. Sellers don’t seem to realize that when they put their house on the market they need to think about the house as the prospective buyer’s house! It will never belong to the seller as their home once it’s on the market. It has to have the broadest appeal, and that takes work, and lots of sellers don’t want to do what their agent asks them to do to get it ready to sell.

And none of the above is fun or rewarding.

Buyers, on the other hand, need someone to help them realize their dreams, and I love doing that.

  1. First, buyers don’t blame their agent when the right house doesn’t materialize right away. They trust that their agent knows how to find houses. And these days most buyers have been searching long before they contact an agent. I love to work with clients who are on a quest to find the home of their dreams. It’s fun, it’s exciting, and I love it when they find just the right house and the financing is solid. Then closing day is a happy occasion and they love the agent who helped them make it happen. That’s fun for me!
  2. The second thing I treasure is the relationships I’ve had with some wonderful people. Many are still friends years after the purchase is over. I’m a people-person and so are most of the clients I work with. We have a great time together. And I love looking at homes too (guess that’s a third thing).

And that’s why I only work with buyers as an Exclusive Buyer’s Agent.  You might ask, what’s in it for me if I use you as my Exclusive Buyer’s Agent? Here’s what’s in store for you.

  • I work hard for my clients to save them money.  If I can negotiate $5.000 off the price of a home, that doesn’t include the additional build-up of equity amortization for paying less for the original loan amount, and that’s much more than the original $5,000.
  • Why would I do this when I’m paid by commission and a higher price would mean a higher commission for me?  First, as an Exclusive Buyer’s Agent I’m legally obligated to represent the best interests of my clients above any other interests, including my own! And –  the difference in commission for negotiating $5,000 off the price of the house is only $140! I want my clients to be satisfied. Their good will and word of mouth are good advertising, worth much more than whatever I save them.  My goal is to save my clients as much money as possible when making what may be the biggest purchase of a lifetime.
  • I save clients liability and pitfalls they may not be able to avoid simply because they don’t have the knowledge and experience to know what those issues might be.

Real estate is a second career for me – I’m an ordained minister. In my years as chaplain and pastor I learned about listening to and understanding people’s needs. Serving people wanting or needing to buy their home is a very special ministry for me. I want to work with people I like and who need my professional help, people who will trust me to be their REALTOR®.

I have two grown sons and a granddaughter. I love to garden. And to travel. I continue in ministry as a consultant to the Department of Pastoral Care at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood. And I’m very active in ministry at my church where I’m just a member, not their minister.

My job and my passion is to provide you with the best buying experience you can have, it’s what gives me satisfaction.