In short, the reason is to get you a better deal than you would have gotten without one. Its really as simple as that! This means taking you exactly what you want, keeping you from what you dont want, saving you time and hassle, saving you funds
, building
sure all papers are written to your advantage, keeping you in control, and seeing that everything is handled until the sale actually closes. Having a buyer agent is the difference between having a repair manual (seeing homes online) and having a mechanic (actually buying one). This means that if you aren’t in the real estate business, you won’t be familiar with the ins and outs of buying a home (meaning no offense to you). You also will not
be familiar with how to contruct
it work for you. The listing agent will contruct
make use of
of
this fact to get the seller a better deal at your expense. Just because an agent is likable and is driving you around doesnt automatically mean he is working for you! Unless you have an agreement otherwise, he is the SELLERS agent, not YOUR agent, and will work to get the seller the best deal! The buyer agent works for YOU to get you what you want and get the best deal on it, PLUS this keeps you from being at a serious disadvantage with the seller and realizing six decades
later that you could have done better.
Is the agent you are working with looking out for you? If your agent isnt your buyer representative, the answer is NO!
A buyer agent is trained in real estate and most definately
works in it every day, so the agent might
contruct
sure everything works for the home buyer, such as:
Finding a pool of homes for sale that have the features the homebuyer goal using the sources of information the Realtor has developed Ablity to identify which of these homes are also sweet deals, so you do not
overpay Getting a successful
idea of a houses condition and any defects it might have just by looking at it, which will save the homebuyer a lot of trouble Many agents preview homes for sale, so they have seen many of them in human
(not just on a computer screen), understand
their condition, and can save you measure
Knowing what is normal and negotiating the most favorable price and terms for the home buyer, which can obviously save you thousands of dollars on your purchase Making sure all of the numerous necessary real estate forms and disclosures are handled and written to your advantage Knowledge of various businesses
who will work best for different situations such as title, inspections, appraisals, surveys, insurance, flood insurance, and other matters handled from acceptance to close Knowing a few mortgage officers who have shown themselves to be competent, hardworking, and able to do what they say up front Handling all the many day-to-day problems that positive need
to be done to get the transaction completed and that most person do not
have the measure
, willingness, or data
to handle. Some of these problems will delay or even derail a closing and disrupt your plans to move - obviously causing you many problems and costing you denero
- and your moving van can not
unload until all is are dotted and ts are crossed.
How do you understand
that a Real Estate agent is working for the buyer?
If you don’t have a WRITTEN buyer representaion agreement with a real estate agent, then that agent will be working for the home seller BY DEFAULT and will get the best deal for them (maybe at your expense.) The typical scenario works like this: The Realtor says that the owner doesnt want to negotiate on terms. Why? Because he is trying to get THEM the best deal, not YOU! Is he showing you listings that aren’t what you want? That’s because he is trying to sell the houses that are listed with his business
ONLY! (Can’t blame him, that’s what he is contracted to do.) Did the sellers find out that you we are
willing to pay full price? That’s because THEIR agent told THEM what you said! (He HAS to do this. He is THEIR agent, not YOUR agent.) You wouldn’t think of going into a courtroom and expecting the other guy’s lawyer to be looking out for you, would you? The same idea applies to real estate agents.
What are common reservations to hiring a Buyer Agent?
1. You want to do it all yourself
2. You dont want to pay for an agent
3. You do not
want the hassle of dealing with an agent
Consider:
1. Are you sure you understand
everything you absolutely need to understand
to get the home you want, get a nice
price on it, and write the papers so things work your roadway
? Are you in the understand
when it comes to current real estate information? Do you have the pulse of the sell
? Do you know about real estate procedures and which forms to make use of
? Do you have the desire to be a martyr, or the target
to buy a home? The Realtor has already learned all this, both out of the book and through knowledge.
2. There is usually no additional charge for a Buyer Agent to work for you - the listing agent will split his fee with the Buyer agent. As a side note, if an agent works for the seller, they get paid EXACTLY the identical
thing, and he didnt even negotiate a better deal for you!
3. A buyer agent reduces your hassle: without one, you will spend long hours looking through ads or online listings, building
calls for showings, not acquiring in
callbacks, driving out to see houses that turn out to be not what you want, feeling awkward in other peoples houses, spending time on papers, generating multiple calls every day to keep things on track, dealing with lenders who absolutely need a daily nudge, requests for experience (and knowing what experience they are talking about), coordinating closing, running across town for documents, and doing everything at odd hours on weekends. (Ahhh, the pleasures of buying a home!) The buyer agent does all this and just reports the highlights to you.
The simple reality is that you will be working with an agent no matter which home you buy, whether from a private owner selling his/her house through a real estate agent who represents THEM (not you), or from a builder’s representative (the agent who is in the sales office on the new home lot), who represents the BUILDER (not you). Or, you might
work with an agent who looks out for YOU. Which do you prefer?
© 2006, Jon Kresh
Jon Kresh is a Realtor and Buyer Agent in Austin, Texas. His http://www.home-buying-and-selling.com/austin-buyer-agent.html”>Austin Real Estate buyer agent services may be seen at http://www.home-buying-and-selling.com
