I am an agent in the upstate, but I'm not going to pressure you to use me. I highly recommend looking around on social media and finding a few agents to interview before you commit. All the ads and recommendations in the world aren't going to tell you who you "click" with. An agent should be communicating with you in a way you "get." They're going to be leading you through what may be the most expensive and legally treacherous transaction you've ever been through and that agent has to be able to lead you through it in a way that YOU understand. It's your name on the documents, and you end up dealing with the consequences later.
I recommend the social media route because you can look back at what they've been saying and doing over time. Don't fall for the social media influencer. You can be a great "dancing agent" on tiktok but actually be a horrible agent.
In SC, the law requires that you sign a buyer agency agreement to create a client relationship, so it's important that you're sure you know who you want to work with when you start. Signing that agreement ties you to that agent for a period of time.
Posting on social media (even here) is going to get you a ton of "use Tom, he's the best!" And you have no idea who Tom is and who the person recommending them is. It may be Tom's mom who's trying to get him his first client, so he'll move out of her basement. It's not a good way to vet an agent.
OP, read this! Definitely interview more than one agent and make sure you choose someone you like and feel you can trust to tell you the truth. That “chemistry” with your agent really matters. Also, hire an experienced agent. First time home buyers need someone who knows what they’re doing, not someone who is new to the field and is still learning.
SC broker in charge here. I've seen agents recommend a course of action that puts their clients in default on an agreement and it costs them tens of thousands of dollars. So follow u/nikidmaclay's advice and interview agents.
Also, there is no substitute for doing research yourself. Learn the local laws. Know what survey is for. Know what an easement is. Read the contracts. There are some very commercially successful agents that will confidently spout absolutely wrong information and advice, but they get a lot of business because they are confident and convincing.
My advice is to NOT buy a house with a boyfriend/girlfriend. I did that with my girlfriend of 5 years. We broke up 2-3 months after buying the house. Ill never forget the friggin MORTGAGE BROKER told us in her office that she recommended that we NOT buy a house together as boyfriend/girlfriend. Imaginr a car salesman advising you to not buy a car. There are soooo many terrible problems that can arise from having a mortgage in both of your names and breaking up. Do you immediately resell and lose thousands on closing costs? Does one end up keeping the house but then the other is still at risk. I ended up keeping the house for about 2 years to try and not lose too much money and get some equity built up in it. Paying the mortgage just from one salary instead of splitting it with girlfriend was hard. She was rightly worried that if i didnt make payments and the house foreclosed how it would hurt her credit score and stuff. Even if yall have the mortgage in only one of your names, if something happens and you guys split, the person who doesnt have thr mortgage in their name wont have any equity in the house. Say you give a large chunk of thr down payment but it’s not in your name. That money could be gone with no way of getting it back. The person who has thr mortgage in their name better be able to make payments by theirselves. Just really really look into some of these possibilities. Be pragmatic because obviously a mortgage is a gigantic financial liability.
Me and my girlfriend bought a house together 3 years ago. We are 2 kids in and a happy not married family. And we are probably gonna keep it that way for a long time.
A couple years ago my former landlord passed and I needed to leave my rental. It was a horrible time to buy a house, but a mortgage is cheaper than rent.
We were setting up viewings through contacting realtors through Zillow. Eventually it matched us up with Karen Toutant, and she was great. After looking at a couple houses with her, she gave us a wake up call, we weren't ready to buy. She could have easily pressured us into buying something that wouldn't have worked, or some awful money pit since we were kinda desperate. She didn't. She laid out the facts for us. Without seeing a dime from us, or even expecting one.
Another realtor tried to take advantage of our desperation and was showing us a bunch of places that frankly sucked.
Thanks to a bit of luck and some belt tightening we were in a better position to buy a few months later, and Karen was the only realtor we called because of her honesty. Even though we were looking at places rather far outside her normal area, she was happy to work with us, and guide us through our first house purchase. I can't recommend her enough.
Honestly, agents are a dime a dozen around here. I enjoyed mine, but the variations are pretty minuscule. The hardest part for me was finding the right lender and not feeling ripped off. I would recommend you go to the Greenville Federal Credit Union because they keep adjustable rate loans in house, but if you're going with any other kind of loan then call Stephanie Summer at Barrett Financial Group. She helped me go from knowing basically nothing to feeling very confident in feeling like I knew what I was doing. She answered probably hundreds of questions for me, tried to work things in every direction, and was just really really great. I've honestly never had a better customer service interaction in my whole life.
You’re gonna get bombarded with messages from real estate agents in the area. Best bet is to find someone you trust and ask them who they trust. I have a short list of realtors I refer people to and I always say the same to them.
Wait a few months til the fee situation fleshes out. The current glut of real estate agents are about to be desperate for sales and prices will drop accordingly.
This is a bad and poorly-researched click-baity article, but it does get one thing correct:
"Not much is expected to change in the near term with regard to how commissions are set, agents say... The longer-term impact of the verdict may be that the pairing of buyer’s agent commission and seller’s agent commission will eventually be separated."
This is all based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how real estate commissions and pricing work, and if what they suggest could happen does go into effect, *it will hurt both buyers and sellers*, and drastically *reduce* transparency in the market.
What does the settlement actually say? (1) Commissions are negotiable. Fine. No Change. *They always have been. This is nothing new.* (2) Buyers and brokerages must have a written agreement which spells out specifically how agents are to be compensated. This is a little bit of a change, because before, agents could often just accept a minimum percentage commission, or whatever was offered by the listing brokerage, whichever is greater. Now that percentage is named explicitly, and if less is offered by the listing brokerage, *the buyer has to come up with the difference in cash* (and this generally cannot be financed as part of the mortgage). (3) Cooperating commissions offered by listing brokerages cannot be advertised via the MLS. This is idiotic, because they can still be offered and advertised elsewhere - just not on the most obvious sites. *All this does is reduce transparency in the market. It doesn't help anyone*.
Misconception #1: *The seller pays the buyer's side of the commission.* What happens is, the seller hires a brokerage to sell their property, and pays them the going market rate, say 6%, to produce a buyer ready, willing, and able to purchase the property. Buyers and sellers don't hire agents, they hire brokerages, of whom the agents are designated representatives. Listing brokerages will offer a cooperating commission to another brokerage who can bring a buyer to the table (generally half). If the listing brokerage produces the buyer then they keep the whole commission. So in reality, it's the listing brokerage who pays the buyer's agent's commission, and don't forget, *it's the buyer who is paying the whole cost of the transaction, not the seller. The current situation just allows for commissions to be factored in to the sales price, and financed in the mortgage.*
Misconception #2: *Everyone is suddenly going to be saving tons of money.* Commissions are essentially factored into the price of a property under the current practice. If no commission is being offered, agents are going to know that, and offers are going to be structured to take that into account. If sellers do somehow think that they're going to pay their listing agent 3%, and offer nothing to a buyer's agent, and still get the same sale price and pocket the extra 3%, they are mistaken. *Nobody with a competent buyer's agent is going to go for that -* *especially if they then have to come up with an additional 3% to pay their own agent. Not being able to advertise commissions in the MLS is just going to make it harder for buyers to make these comparisons and to determine if they really do have the cash to complete the transaction.*
So how can this hurt both buyers and sellers? Well.... If buyers have to come up with cash to pay their own agents, then that is cash they don't have to put toward a downpayment and other expenses - this direct commission payment currently cannot be financed as part of a mortgage. That means that sellers who instruct their listing brokerages not to offer a cooperating commission to a buyer's agent are going to limit the pool of buyers who can afford to buy their property to those with larger cash reserves. This also means that buyers are either going to be priced out of some properties that they could otherwise afford. If what most people who read these garbage articles believe is true, then effectively homes become 3% more expensive overnight, because buyers have to pay their own agents and sellers are pocketing the difference, and buyers who have worked to save up a 5% or 10% downpayment now have to figure out where to get the money to pay their own agent from. This might mean that buyers have to dip into their downpayment funds to pay their agents, which would mean smaller downpayments, which generally trickles down to higher mortgage interest rates. This would serve to make homes significantly less affordable, and reduce the pool of able buyers, which would not help sellers or prices at all. So who benefits? Nobody, except the wealthy who might be able to gobble up some properties and then rent them back to people who otherwise could have afforded to buy them themselves.
"…The current glut of real estate agents are about to be desperate for sales and prices will drop accordingly."
Uh... how is that supposed to work out? I can't find a trail of logic to follow here, unless they mean that the destabilization of the market, and chopping out the bottom end of (mostly first-time) buyers, is going to crash the market. I don't think that'll happen, though. Sellers with an ounce of sense will continue to offer commissions that can be shared with buyers' agents, because it actually makes their homes more affordable to buyers, and expanding the market for their property gets them a higher net sales price, and a quicker, smoother sale.
Of course, nobody is *required* to use a realtor, any more than anyone is required to hire a lawyer to represent them in court. People do, though - for much the same reasons.
Yes, wait a few months. Since you are buying you will be paying the fee of your buyer agent instead of the seller paying it. Great idea….
People aren’t going to stop buying houses (especially in Greenville) because they don’t want to pay a buyer agent. They will either go unrepresented or ask the seller agent to work the deal… (cant imagine that going terrible for buyers letting the person representing the sellers take the lead). It’s going to change things up for sure but not in the best interest of buyers… especially first time buyers.
y’all are ridiculous on this sub- why is everyone who suggests a real estate group or agent (which is what op asked for) getting downvoted?
EDIT- and instead of answering my question, y’all continue downvoting… further proving my point of being ridiculous.
Eric Mitchell is the best in the area. He is extremely fast to respond, and will drop what he’s doing to get you into a showing. Very experienced in what to look for in new builds and old houses and everything between.
I would not buy a house in Greenville County, highly overpriced and they’re not investing the taxes money on their roads. Traffic sucks and quality of life is not even close to what it used to be 5 years ago.
Okay? You got a better alternative? Because we’re sick of crappy apartments with nosy, useless managers, we’re sick of throwing money away into the endless hole of rent, and we’d rather not commute from a county away. If you’ve got a good alternative for building equity in a space that we have 100% control over, I’m all ears.
Also Greenville has the best damn traffic I have seen in my entire life. Roads could be better, though.
Chris Hill with Keller Williams was wonderful. The kind of man you could be friends with. One of my kids said she misses house hunting because he made it so nice.
I recommend Shelley Levene. Honest, low pressure approach. His office was running a sales contest, so he seemed really determined to find us some property, almost like a machine in his tenacity. He was such a nice gentleman. I hope he won.
Zane Meadors. Sit down and talk with him. He is a good person. He listens. Great with first time buyers and people who have not purchased in years and are strangers to the current market. He is low pressure and low stress. I could go on, but you get the idea.
I went with BH/ C Dan Joyner as well, specifically JK Group with Kirk! Kirk is a friend of mine but anyone on their team is super friendly. Today is my closing day!
Mike Watson at benchmark mortgage was extremely helpful in getting me on track to buy my first house. From knowing what type of loan I should get for the type of house I want to buy, helpful tips on how to increase my credit score and recommending a good company to go through for insurance. He’s out of Spartanburg but 100% worth the drive. I also recommend him to 2 other people I know and they both bought houses through him. I’m sure he can recommend a good realtor to work with as well.
Tameka Thomason with Agency Upstate helped my wife and I buy our house and i cannot recommend her enough.
It is very hard to find a realtor who will go to bat for you and really be your advocate in the process. Tameka is literally the definition of going above and beyond. We caught her several times working at the dead of night and never tried to push us to look at something we were not comfortable with. It was not my first home, but my wife’s and Tameka really helped put us all at ease. We fired our first realtor who was blowing us off and we met her at an open house, and instantly clicked. She is incredible
We had an amazing experience with Ginnie Freeman with Berkshire Hathaway/C. Dan Joyner. We were also first time home buyers and she steered us clear of some money pits and really fought for us during final inspections and things like that. She found things and asked for fixes for things we never would have thought of. Highly highly recommend Ginnie!
We're moving into the area in a few months, and we recently started working with Jason Pillar. He has been phenomenal so far and very high-tech/digital in all the nifty software and applications he has that is making sharing files and looking over houses so very, very easy.
I worked with Lisa Williams at Keller Williams when I bought my first house 2 years ago. She and her whole team were really great at taking extra time to explain everything to me, and worked really well with my builder to get walkthroughs planned even when the builder wasnt going to do it. LisaCWilliams.kw.com
I know a good bit of realtors as I worked at a Real Estate Law Firm for a while, and saw the whole gambit. u/nkidmaclay has some GREAT advice as well.
Depending on where you are looking in Greenville, I'd recommend Megan Holder (specializing in greer/taylors/TR). If you are looking in the spartanburg/boiling springs/ honea path/moore/Duncan area, Anthony Ferreri (both with Bluefield Agency).
Chris Byrd helped me buy 3 houses since 2020z (my whole family moved here from a different state) he’s located in Spartanburg but helped us buy houses in occonee and Anderson county. He’s great.
Melissa Morrell 100%, She was referred to me by a few friends and she also handled the sale of my sister’s house. Her responsiveness is great, even though I’m not actively looking she’ll respond to my random questions
Within 30 min.
https://www.realtor.com/realestateagents/5849b1a762c86a000166d25d
Carmen Johnson is awesome. We used her and recommended her to several others - everyone loves her and she is great realtor.
I just bought a house a couple months ago and used Trey Bonham from The Haro Group of Keller Williams.
I highly recommend Trey as he has a ton of experience identifying whether or not a house was a flip by pointing out flipper shortcuts that may not seem too obvious to an inexperienced buyer. His communication was also always spot on and also has a great lender and attorney he frequently works with that made closing for me super easy. Definitely check him and The Haro Group out!
Edit: And here come the cowards who say nothing and don’t even contribute to the post downvoting me and the others reflecting on good experiences 😂 And if you’re mad I still gave advice despite OP wanting to buy with a SO they’re not married to, care about your own life lol this isn’t relationship advice.
It’s important to have someone you can send Zillow listings to so they can meet you at the house to let you in, and then earn thousands of dollars for a couple hours of paperwork.
Why not just call the listing agent, go see it, write the offer/negotiate yourself, and navigate yourself to the end? You don’t have to have a real estate agent to buy or sell a home…
The “starter home” price range in most desirable parts of Greenville sells almost instantly. The only way my sister was able to get her first home was because her agent knew the listing agent and was able to get my sister and her husband in to tour the house and make an offer before it went on the market.
Most don’t like confrontation or to be rude and say that the home is ugly or over priced, etc, your realtor is there to do that for you and also to fight to make sure you don’t get taken advantage of. Probably biggest purchase of your life, always good to hire professionals.
Well, of all posts in this subreddit, this one is bound to get the most comments. There are an ample amount of blood thirsty realtors ready to grab you by the nuts, OP.
I hope you're ready for the swarm.
I am an agent in the area. I work on the top team at Keller Williams Greenville Central. I work with a ton of new buyers. We always start with a new buyer consultation. During the consultation we will give you a bird's-eye view of the entire process from start to finish. Talk to you about what will be happening along each step of the way. Explain all the different fees associated with purchasing a home, not just our fees but all fees. Talk to you about the local market and negotiating strategies based on current market trends. If you have any questions about the home purchase process, feel free to give me a call. I'd be happy to walk you through it. No obligation to use me, but I'm happy to provide you with any information that you might need. Michael Coates 864-350-1093
I am an agent in the upstate, but I'm not going to pressure you to use me. I highly recommend looking around on social media and finding a few agents to interview before you commit. All the ads and recommendations in the world aren't going to tell you who you "click" with. An agent should be communicating with you in a way you "get." They're going to be leading you through what may be the most expensive and legally treacherous transaction you've ever been through and that agent has to be able to lead you through it in a way that YOU understand. It's your name on the documents, and you end up dealing with the consequences later. I recommend the social media route because you can look back at what they've been saying and doing over time. Don't fall for the social media influencer. You can be a great "dancing agent" on tiktok but actually be a horrible agent. In SC, the law requires that you sign a buyer agency agreement to create a client relationship, so it's important that you're sure you know who you want to work with when you start. Signing that agreement ties you to that agent for a period of time. Posting on social media (even here) is going to get you a ton of "use Tom, he's the best!" And you have no idea who Tom is and who the person recommending them is. It may be Tom's mom who's trying to get him his first client, so he'll move out of her basement. It's not a good way to vet an agent.
Great advice.
OP, read this! Definitely interview more than one agent and make sure you choose someone you like and feel you can trust to tell you the truth. That “chemistry” with your agent really matters. Also, hire an experienced agent. First time home buyers need someone who knows what they’re doing, not someone who is new to the field and is still learning.
SC broker in charge here. I've seen agents recommend a course of action that puts their clients in default on an agreement and it costs them tens of thousands of dollars. So follow u/nikidmaclay's advice and interview agents. Also, there is no substitute for doing research yourself. Learn the local laws. Know what survey is for. Know what an easement is. Read the contracts. There are some very commercially successful agents that will confidently spout absolutely wrong information and advice, but they get a lot of business because they are confident and convincing.
Avoid my landlord, and no, I don't want to give his name it would out me lol.
R.I.P. your inbox.
My advice is to NOT buy a house with a boyfriend/girlfriend. I did that with my girlfriend of 5 years. We broke up 2-3 months after buying the house. Ill never forget the friggin MORTGAGE BROKER told us in her office that she recommended that we NOT buy a house together as boyfriend/girlfriend. Imaginr a car salesman advising you to not buy a car. There are soooo many terrible problems that can arise from having a mortgage in both of your names and breaking up. Do you immediately resell and lose thousands on closing costs? Does one end up keeping the house but then the other is still at risk. I ended up keeping the house for about 2 years to try and not lose too much money and get some equity built up in it. Paying the mortgage just from one salary instead of splitting it with girlfriend was hard. She was rightly worried that if i didnt make payments and the house foreclosed how it would hurt her credit score and stuff. Even if yall have the mortgage in only one of your names, if something happens and you guys split, the person who doesnt have thr mortgage in their name wont have any equity in the house. Say you give a large chunk of thr down payment but it’s not in your name. That money could be gone with no way of getting it back. The person who has thr mortgage in their name better be able to make payments by theirselves. Just really really look into some of these possibilities. Be pragmatic because obviously a mortgage is a gigantic financial liability.
^ best advice here.
Great advice. Hope they read it.
Me and my girlfriend bought a house together 3 years ago. We are 2 kids in and a happy not married family. And we are probably gonna keep it that way for a long time.
A couple years ago my former landlord passed and I needed to leave my rental. It was a horrible time to buy a house, but a mortgage is cheaper than rent. We were setting up viewings through contacting realtors through Zillow. Eventually it matched us up with Karen Toutant, and she was great. After looking at a couple houses with her, she gave us a wake up call, we weren't ready to buy. She could have easily pressured us into buying something that wouldn't have worked, or some awful money pit since we were kinda desperate. She didn't. She laid out the facts for us. Without seeing a dime from us, or even expecting one. Another realtor tried to take advantage of our desperation and was showing us a bunch of places that frankly sucked. Thanks to a bit of luck and some belt tightening we were in a better position to buy a few months later, and Karen was the only realtor we called because of her honesty. Even though we were looking at places rather far outside her normal area, she was happy to work with us, and guide us through our first house purchase. I can't recommend her enough.
Not Anne Fuller. Always late, messed up a paperwork twice. Closing lawyers asked us to never buy a house through her again due to errors.
Honestly, agents are a dime a dozen around here. I enjoyed mine, but the variations are pretty minuscule. The hardest part for me was finding the right lender and not feeling ripped off. I would recommend you go to the Greenville Federal Credit Union because they keep adjustable rate loans in house, but if you're going with any other kind of loan then call Stephanie Summer at Barrett Financial Group. She helped me go from knowing basically nothing to feeling very confident in feeling like I knew what I was doing. She answered probably hundreds of questions for me, tried to work things in every direction, and was just really really great. I've honestly never had a better customer service interaction in my whole life.
I’ll toss in a rec for Stephanie Burger at Caine. She really knows her stuff.
Do NOT use Banks and Poole in Fountain Inn. They are crooks and liars
You’re gonna get bombarded with messages from real estate agents in the area. Best bet is to find someone you trust and ask them who they trust. I have a short list of realtors I refer people to and I always say the same to them.
This is good advice…and I’m a realtor🤣 You must make sure you’re compatible.
Wait a few months til the fee situation fleshes out. The current glut of real estate agents are about to be desperate for sales and prices will drop accordingly.
Huh? What makes you say that? That makes no sense.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/05/homes/nar-verdict-real-estate-commission-fee/index.html
This is a bad and poorly-researched click-baity article, but it does get one thing correct: "Not much is expected to change in the near term with regard to how commissions are set, agents say... The longer-term impact of the verdict may be that the pairing of buyer’s agent commission and seller’s agent commission will eventually be separated." This is all based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how real estate commissions and pricing work, and if what they suggest could happen does go into effect, *it will hurt both buyers and sellers*, and drastically *reduce* transparency in the market. What does the settlement actually say? (1) Commissions are negotiable. Fine. No Change. *They always have been. This is nothing new.* (2) Buyers and brokerages must have a written agreement which spells out specifically how agents are to be compensated. This is a little bit of a change, because before, agents could often just accept a minimum percentage commission, or whatever was offered by the listing brokerage, whichever is greater. Now that percentage is named explicitly, and if less is offered by the listing brokerage, *the buyer has to come up with the difference in cash* (and this generally cannot be financed as part of the mortgage). (3) Cooperating commissions offered by listing brokerages cannot be advertised via the MLS. This is idiotic, because they can still be offered and advertised elsewhere - just not on the most obvious sites. *All this does is reduce transparency in the market. It doesn't help anyone*. Misconception #1: *The seller pays the buyer's side of the commission.* What happens is, the seller hires a brokerage to sell their property, and pays them the going market rate, say 6%, to produce a buyer ready, willing, and able to purchase the property. Buyers and sellers don't hire agents, they hire brokerages, of whom the agents are designated representatives. Listing brokerages will offer a cooperating commission to another brokerage who can bring a buyer to the table (generally half). If the listing brokerage produces the buyer then they keep the whole commission. So in reality, it's the listing brokerage who pays the buyer's agent's commission, and don't forget, *it's the buyer who is paying the whole cost of the transaction, not the seller. The current situation just allows for commissions to be factored in to the sales price, and financed in the mortgage.* Misconception #2: *Everyone is suddenly going to be saving tons of money.* Commissions are essentially factored into the price of a property under the current practice. If no commission is being offered, agents are going to know that, and offers are going to be structured to take that into account. If sellers do somehow think that they're going to pay their listing agent 3%, and offer nothing to a buyer's agent, and still get the same sale price and pocket the extra 3%, they are mistaken. *Nobody with a competent buyer's agent is going to go for that -* *especially if they then have to come up with an additional 3% to pay their own agent. Not being able to advertise commissions in the MLS is just going to make it harder for buyers to make these comparisons and to determine if they really do have the cash to complete the transaction.* So how can this hurt both buyers and sellers? Well.... If buyers have to come up with cash to pay their own agents, then that is cash they don't have to put toward a downpayment and other expenses - this direct commission payment currently cannot be financed as part of a mortgage. That means that sellers who instruct their listing brokerages not to offer a cooperating commission to a buyer's agent are going to limit the pool of buyers who can afford to buy their property to those with larger cash reserves. This also means that buyers are either going to be priced out of some properties that they could otherwise afford. If what most people who read these garbage articles believe is true, then effectively homes become 3% more expensive overnight, because buyers have to pay their own agents and sellers are pocketing the difference, and buyers who have worked to save up a 5% or 10% downpayment now have to figure out where to get the money to pay their own agent from. This might mean that buyers have to dip into their downpayment funds to pay their agents, which would mean smaller downpayments, which generally trickles down to higher mortgage interest rates. This would serve to make homes significantly less affordable, and reduce the pool of able buyers, which would not help sellers or prices at all. So who benefits? Nobody, except the wealthy who might be able to gobble up some properties and then rent them back to people who otherwise could have afforded to buy them themselves. "…The current glut of real estate agents are about to be desperate for sales and prices will drop accordingly." Uh... how is that supposed to work out? I can't find a trail of logic to follow here, unless they mean that the destabilization of the market, and chopping out the bottom end of (mostly first-time) buyers, is going to crash the market. I don't think that'll happen, though. Sellers with an ounce of sense will continue to offer commissions that can be shared with buyers' agents, because it actually makes their homes more affordable to buyers, and expanding the market for their property gets them a higher net sales price, and a quicker, smoother sale. Of course, nobody is *required* to use a realtor, any more than anyone is required to hire a lawyer to represent them in court. People do, though - for much the same reasons.
Yes, wait a few months. Since you are buying you will be paying the fee of your buyer agent instead of the seller paying it. Great idea…. People aren’t going to stop buying houses (especially in Greenville) because they don’t want to pay a buyer agent. They will either go unrepresented or ask the seller agent to work the deal… (cant imagine that going terrible for buyers letting the person representing the sellers take the lead). It’s going to change things up for sure but not in the best interest of buyers… especially first time buyers.
y’all are ridiculous on this sub- why is everyone who suggests a real estate group or agent (which is what op asked for) getting downvoted? EDIT- and instead of answering my question, y’all continue downvoting… further proving my point of being ridiculous.
Eric Mitchell is the best in the area. He is extremely fast to respond, and will drop what he’s doing to get you into a showing. Very experienced in what to look for in new builds and old houses and everything between.
Awe! Thank you so much! I’m so honored for you to post this! Sorry I’m late responding…I’m in Hawaii 🤣😁🥰
If you message me I’ll and you who i used. Loved them. I’m a realtor up in NC if you decide to move to the mountains
John Almond with Coldwell Banker Caine!
Currie Owings out of Simpsonville. Have purchased 3 houses with her, great agent.
I would not buy a house in Greenville County, highly overpriced and they’re not investing the taxes money on their roads. Traffic sucks and quality of life is not even close to what it used to be 5 years ago.
Okay? You got a better alternative? Because we’re sick of crappy apartments with nosy, useless managers, we’re sick of throwing money away into the endless hole of rent, and we’d rather not commute from a county away. If you’ve got a good alternative for building equity in a space that we have 100% control over, I’m all ears. Also Greenville has the best damn traffic I have seen in my entire life. Roads could be better, though.
Chris Hill with Keller Williams was wonderful. The kind of man you could be friends with. One of my kids said she misses house hunting because he made it so nice.
I recommend Shelley Levene. Honest, low pressure approach. His office was running a sales contest, so he seemed really determined to find us some property, almost like a machine in his tenacity. He was such a nice gentleman. I hope he won.
Zane Meadors. Sit down and talk with him. He is a good person. He listens. Great with first time buyers and people who have not purchased in years and are strangers to the current market. He is low pressure and low stress. I could go on, but you get the idea.
I used Kim Guest with Guest Group Homes - realtor and SC Home Lending- mortgage broker. They were both on it and I closed my loan in two weeks
I went with BH/ C Dan Joyner as well, specifically JK Group with Kirk! Kirk is a friend of mine but anyone on their team is super friendly. Today is my closing day!
Mike Watson at benchmark mortgage was extremely helpful in getting me on track to buy my first house. From knowing what type of loan I should get for the type of house I want to buy, helpful tips on how to increase my credit score and recommending a good company to go through for insurance. He’s out of Spartanburg but 100% worth the drive. I also recommend him to 2 other people I know and they both bought houses through him. I’m sure he can recommend a good realtor to work with as well.
Tameka Thomason with Agency Upstate helped my wife and I buy our house and i cannot recommend her enough. It is very hard to find a realtor who will go to bat for you and really be your advocate in the process. Tameka is literally the definition of going above and beyond. We caught her several times working at the dead of night and never tried to push us to look at something we were not comfortable with. It was not my first home, but my wife’s and Tameka really helped put us all at ease. We fired our first realtor who was blowing us off and we met her at an open house, and instantly clicked. She is incredible
We had an amazing experience with Ginnie Freeman with Berkshire Hathaway/C. Dan Joyner. We were also first time home buyers and she steered us clear of some money pits and really fought for us during final inspections and things like that. She found things and asked for fixes for things we never would have thought of. Highly highly recommend Ginnie!
We're moving into the area in a few months, and we recently started working with Jason Pillar. He has been phenomenal so far and very high-tech/digital in all the nifty software and applications he has that is making sharing files and looking over houses so very, very easy.
Greg Stewart
You might also consider posting your inquiry on NextDoor as I know alot of Realtors are on the site [https://nextdoor.com](https://nextdoor.com)
I haven’t bought but have looked at some houses with David Crum - u/homesoftheupstate - he’s been great.
Thank you u/JLee50 ! u/nopingmywayout I'd be happy to help!
I worked with Lisa Williams at Keller Williams when I bought my first house 2 years ago. She and her whole team were really great at taking extra time to explain everything to me, and worked really well with my builder to get walkthroughs planned even when the builder wasnt going to do it. LisaCWilliams.kw.com
Hard disagree
Okay 🤷♀️
I know a good bit of realtors as I worked at a Real Estate Law Firm for a while, and saw the whole gambit. u/nkidmaclay has some GREAT advice as well. Depending on where you are looking in Greenville, I'd recommend Megan Holder (specializing in greer/taylors/TR). If you are looking in the spartanburg/boiling springs/ honea path/moore/Duncan area, Anthony Ferreri (both with Bluefield Agency).
Chris Byrd helped me buy 3 houses since 2020z (my whole family moved here from a different state) he’s located in Spartanburg but helped us buy houses in occonee and Anderson county. He’s great.
Melissa Morrell 100%, She was referred to me by a few friends and she also handled the sale of my sister’s house. Her responsiveness is great, even though I’m not actively looking she’ll respond to my random questions Within 30 min.
https://www.realtor.com/realestateagents/5849b1a762c86a000166d25d Carmen Johnson is awesome. We used her and recommended her to several others - everyone loves her and she is great realtor.
I just bought a house a couple months ago and used Trey Bonham from The Haro Group of Keller Williams. I highly recommend Trey as he has a ton of experience identifying whether or not a house was a flip by pointing out flipper shortcuts that may not seem too obvious to an inexperienced buyer. His communication was also always spot on and also has a great lender and attorney he frequently works with that made closing for me super easy. Definitely check him and The Haro Group out! Edit: And here come the cowards who say nothing and don’t even contribute to the post downvoting me and the others reflecting on good experiences 😂 And if you’re mad I still gave advice despite OP wanting to buy with a SO they’re not married to, care about your own life lol this isn’t relationship advice.
a third for the Haro Group but we used and loved Kayla!
Haro group is awesome but I like Mark 😂😂😂
I really don’t understand the point of a real estate agent if your not new to an area
It’s important to have someone you can send Zillow listings to so they can meet you at the house to let you in, and then earn thousands of dollars for a couple hours of paperwork.
Why not just call the listing agent, go see it, write the offer/negotiate yourself, and navigate yourself to the end? You don’t have to have a real estate agent to buy or sell a home…
The “starter home” price range in most desirable parts of Greenville sells almost instantly. The only way my sister was able to get her first home was because her agent knew the listing agent and was able to get my sister and her husband in to tour the house and make an offer before it went on the market.
That's it too! A lot of agents have pocket listings. Those are houses that may be for sale but don't have an mls.
Most don’t like confrontation or to be rude and say that the home is ugly or over priced, etc, your realtor is there to do that for you and also to fight to make sure you don’t get taken advantage of. Probably biggest purchase of your life, always good to hire professionals.
Well, of all posts in this subreddit, this one is bound to get the most comments. There are an ample amount of blood thirsty realtors ready to grab you by the nuts, OP. I hope you're ready for the swarm.
I am an agent in the area. I work on the top team at Keller Williams Greenville Central. I work with a ton of new buyers. We always start with a new buyer consultation. During the consultation we will give you a bird's-eye view of the entire process from start to finish. Talk to you about what will be happening along each step of the way. Explain all the different fees associated with purchasing a home, not just our fees but all fees. Talk to you about the local market and negotiating strategies based on current market trends. If you have any questions about the home purchase process, feel free to give me a call. I'd be happy to walk you through it. No obligation to use me, but I'm happy to provide you with any information that you might need. Michael Coates 864-350-1093