In short, the real reason is to get you a better deal than you would have gotten without one.
It’s really as simple as that! This means getting you exactly what you want, keeping you from what you don’t want, saving you time and hassle, saving you money by finding under-priced homes and negotiating an even lower price, making sure all papers are written to your advantage to save you 2% of the cost of the house in fees, 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 won’t be familiar with how to make it work for you. The listing agent will use this fact to get the seller a better deal at your expense.
A buyer agent is trained in real estate and can make sure everything works for the home buyer, such as:
-> Finding a “pool” of homes for sale that have the features the home-buyer wants using the sources of information the REALTOR® has developed
-> Ability to identify which of these homes are also sweet deals, so you don’t overpay
-> Getting a good idea of a house’s condition and any defects it might have just by looking at it, which will save the home-buyer a lot of trouble
-> Many agents preview homes for sale, so they have seen many of them in person (not just on a computer screen), know their condition, and can save you time
-> 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 companies 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 need to be done to get the transaction completed and that most people don’t have the time, willingness, or knowledge 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 money – and your moving van can’t unload until all I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed.
What Are Common Reservations To Hiring A Buyer Real Estate Agent?
1. You want to do it all yourself
2. You don’t want to pay for an agent
3. You don’t want the hassle of dealing with an agent
Consider:
1. Are you sure you know everything you need to know to get the home you want, get a good price on it, and write the papers so things work your way? Are you “in the know” when it comes to current real estate information? Do you have the pulse of the market? Do you know about real estate procedures and which forms to use? Do you have the desire to be a martyr, or the desire to buy a home? The REALTOR® has already learned all this, both out of the book and through experience.
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 same thing, and he didn’t 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, making calls for showings, not getting callbacks, driving out to see houses that turn out to be not what you want, feeling awkward in other people’s houses, spending time on papers, making multiple calls every day to keep things on track, dealing with lenders who need a daily ‘nudge’, requests for information (and knowing what information 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 builders representative (the agent who is in the sales office on the new home lot), who represents the BUILDER (not you). Or, you can work with an agent who looks out for YOU. Which do you prefer?
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