An agent of your own, who works in your best interests, will help you through the home buying process in some important ways, including:

1)  Spending time initially with you, asking questions about your lifestyle, what is important to you in a home.  Your buyer's agent will guide you as you decide what you want to spend on your home, after providing information about the current prices of homes that fit your preferences.  And, your agent should listen to your answers! This is one of the largest, most important decisions you will make, and it is your agent's job to help empower you to locate and purchase a home that suits your needs. The seller's or builder's agent is not going to do this, and is not obligated to.

2)  Guiding you to gather enough information to arrange your financing.  There is a phenomenal boom in real estate in this area, and prices of new homes and existing or resale homes alike have soared. You need to be prepared to not only know how much mortgage you can obtain, but to have in your mind any additional funds you might need to bargain with to get an offer accepted. If you must buy now, you must be prepared to work in a market that sellers are currently enjoying. Having a buyer agent on your side to guide your negotiations can help keep you focused and ready to act on the home you want when you find it. In a market where homes are selling quickly for top dollar and multiple offers on a desirable property are common, your agent will help you determine the likelihood of the home holding its value over time. Your buyer agent will help you determine how to arrange your offer, and help you determine how to prepare yourself to finance it should your offer be accepted.

3)   Representing you in purchasing your new home. Representation is an important issue, and as friendly as the seller’s or builder’s agents can be, they are working in the best interest of the seller. That is appropriate. But who is representing you? Their job, rightly, is to sell a particular home, and to treat you fairly, but it is not their job to advise you about your alternatives.

When you contact a real estate agent to help you find a home to purchase, bear with the explanation of how we work in this industry, and let your buyer agent do your information gathering for you. It saves you time! Avoid visiting a site or calling on a sign without your agent; often, a builder/seller agent will offer to compensate your agent, but only if your agent accompanies you on your initial visit!  When you visit a new homes site for the first time and if you are not with your agent, you potentially sabotage your agent's compensation, or you may create a liability to pay it yourself, depending on the terms of your buyer broker agreement.

Similarly, for inquiries about an existing home, try to avoid calling the seller's agent or seller (FSBO) directly for more information about a home for sale.   In the case that you may find a For Sale By Owner that interests you, let your agent call for you.  With the internet, newspaper classifieds, for sale by owner publications and web sites, and so much information available, chances are increased these days that you might see such a property on the market before your agent does.  (Many times, a motivated seller will negotiate with your agent and agree to let her show the house to you, and pay or contribute to her compensation should you buy it.    Why?  A motivated, financially qualified buyer, brought to a motivated seller, a streamlined transaction for all, is worth some compensation to the seller.  In such cases, the seller pays much less than fully listing the home with a realty firm.  No more mortgage payments to make, no more running strangers who are "just looking" through their home; you get the idea.)

It is unfair to expect your buyer agent to look out for your interests, but due to your misunderstanding of the way we work, you might not have reciprocated.  We are a team together;  liken this to showing up for your job every day, doing your job well, only to find out you will not or might not be paid.

Why would a builder/seller pay your agent? They don’t pay them to work for you; they offer compensation because you, that agent’s client, have bought one of their houses. Builders know that real estate agents are a major source of qualified, motivated home buyers. They rely on that segment of the market to decrease the need to spend money on advertising.  You get representation as a bonus, like icing on a cake.  An agent who is experienced with the process of purchasing new construction, and who is familiar with various communities and builders in the area, knows what questions to ask to get you the home you want within the price you are willing to afford. If she is familiar with other builders and new home sites, she can tell you competitive offerings and prices, and she can inform you whether a particular builder’s policies are similar to others, or how they stand out from the competition.

She can also give you a more realistic time frame for the completion of a home, based on knowledge of the process.  New construction encompasses a lot of tradesmen, contractors, city inspectors, building permits, all which have to be coordinated to bring a house up at all. Work is scheduled tightly; any delays related to your new house can cause a group of contractors to move to another project.  This might ( and often does!) delay progress on your new home for weeks.  Then the buyer is bewildered because he sees an empty lot for months after contracting for it, or he sees his house begin to come up only to see it appear to sit with no one working on it for weeks. Your buyers agent cannot control any of this, but she can educate you about each new home community you are considering, communicate with the site agent regularly once you are under contract, and paint a more realistic picture of when you can expect it to be done.

How many horror stories have you heard about a buyer purchasing a new home based on a site agent speculating they can have it done in five months, to find out it will be more like eight to twelve?

Many buyer agents have worked extensively with buyers and told them about new home communities, only to have the communication suddenly stop. Obviously in such cases the buyer goes out and purchases on his own. But why would you do this? Builders often offer compensation to buyer agents, if it is clear that your agent is involved from the beginning, and you have someone working on your behalf at no cost to you.

Another point worth mentioning is that, in new construction particularly, buyers will go to new home sites, have extensive conversations with site agents, gather information, pick up brochures, and then bring an agent back to write a contract. That is how it appears to the site agent, who will be asked to compensate your agent!  The site agent fumes internally perhaps, because of the time spent "selling" a home to this buyer who did not disclose an agency relationship with another real estate agent.  Think about this up front; do not unintentionally create an adversarial relationship between representatives.   Let the seller's agent do his or her job; let YOUR agent do hers.  Communicate with your agent and disclose your inquiries made when she isn't with you, before, and during, your transaction, so she can better protect all parties involved.

A seller’s agent, rightly so, will paint a picture that will sell you that home. A buyer agent’s allegiance is to the buyer, not to a particular property or seller. Your own agent will present choices for you to consider.

YOUR Buyer's Agent, the one you trust to protect your personal and financial interests above all else in your real estate transaction.  Call or e-mail today!