Why Buyers Need Their Own Real Estate Agent
Buying a home is a complex process. There is a wealth of information at your fingertips to help you get started, including homes for sale, market statistics, and how-to advice. When you add in the guidance and perspective of a seasoned professional, you have the best chance for a smooth, relatively stress-free transaction. To make the best possible home buying decisions, you should have the best guidance and information. An experienced real estate agent can assist you through the search process, give you details on comparable recently sold homes, help you craft an offer and negotiate successfully, and advise you through the inspection, repair, and appraisal processes. Your agent can help you find the best value, neighborhood, and quality for your budget and requirements. To simplify how commissions are routed, sales commissions are paid out of the seller's proceeds, according to the terms of the listing agreement and/or the sales contract. Thus, the buyers' agent commission is paid by the sellers, as a portion of their listing commission. You likely will not have to pay anything out of pocket for the services of a buyers' agent. If you are at all tempted to go directly to the listing agent for a home that interests you, keep in mind that the listing agent has a fiduciary duty to the seller. This means they are obligated to act in their clients' best interests. If you try to use the listing agent of a home to help you write an offer, they can only represent you if they act as 'dual agent' and get written permission from the sellers to do so - and in that case, the agent can't advise either side on price or negotiation strategy. If they help you write the offer without acting as a dual agent, you have NO representation as a buyer, and no one to advise you or look after your interests.