A Few Things About Buyer Agency

Through the years I have heard all  kinds of misinformation bandied about regarding buyer agency. First of all, let me say that the first four and a half years that I worked in real estate, I worked as an exclusive buyer agent, which means our company did not accept listings, never worked with sellers, but exclusively worked with buyers. I now take listings on a limited basis, mainly listings of friends or homes that I know have been priced right, at least. In the next four days I'm going to give you things to think about regarding buyer agency.

One of the things I hear is that a buyer agent only adds cost to the process, that you can go directly to the listing agent and maybe get the listing agent to reduce their commision if another agent is not involved. That may be true in some cases, that the listing agent will reduce the commission, but in most cases it is not going to happen.

However, there are many ways a buyers agent can save money. In the first place, if you go to a listing agent, that agent is representing the seller -- that's their job and what they were hired to do by the seller -- represent them and get the highest price possible. So, the listing agent won't negotiate like a buyer agent will negotiate, and they will not offer options. What I mean by "options" is, say you go to look at a home and you like the style of the house and the listing agent works with you to buy it -- do you think that listing agent is going to tell you about a similar house around the corner that will be coming on the market in the next week, priced $5000.00 lower and in better condition?

That's just one example, but the main thing is that the mindset is different between buyer agent and listing agent. This is all dependent on whether you get a true buyer agent who understands and truly practices buyer agency. All throughout a transaction, a true buyer agent is going to have the mindset that you are their client and it's all about YOU BUYING the best house, at the best price, with the best financing and with the best conditions. A listing agent's mindset is to get the best price and the best conditions for the seller. It only makes sense that you would want someone working in your best interest from the very beginning who works hard to identify the appropriate area of town to meet your needs, to provide you will ALL the infomation you need to make the best decision and to protect YOUR interests all the way to closing through every single step of the transaction.

Tomorrow, I will go a little further describing the difference between buyer agent and lsting agent.

Mike from Savannah