Now More Important than Ever to Rely on An Exclusive Real Estate Buyer’s Agent
With the current housing and mortgage market, sellers are even more desperate to make the sale. Consider this: The National Association of Realtors says if no more new homes were built, it would still take over 9 months to sell all the existing houses on the market – wow!
And while this is great news for buyers in terms of pricing, it’s critical that buyer’s be even more cautious as sellers and their real estate agents become even more desperate to sell homes.
In a market where it’s difficult to move houses off the market, real estate agents with a vested interest in the sale of the property may be more likely to withhold critical information that may negatively affect your buying decision.
On the other hand, an exclusive buyer’s agent acts as an advocate for the buyer and has no vested interest whatsoever in the home that’s selling. True buyer’s agents don’t work for firms that also list homes, meaning you’ll receive an even greater degree of non-bias.
Before you choose an exclusive buyer’s agent, be sure to ask these questions:
1. Do you list any properties?
If a real estate agent lists any properties of his or her own, they stand to make a double profit if they sell one of those properties to you. If an agent represents him or herself as an exclusive buyer’s agent on their website, look for links on that website that lead to their own listed properties. If they are selling property and listing property, they are a dual agent.
2. Does your firm list any properties?
Sometimes, exclusive buyer’s agents and exclusive seller’s agents work within the same firm. Technically, these agents could call themselves “exclusive agents,†but in most states, each has a fiduciary responsibility to the firm to try to sell the firm’s listed homes first. When an “exclusive†buyer’s agent and an “exclusive†seller’s agent get their bread buttered from the same firm, they are dual agents.
3. Are you a member of NAEBA?
NAEBA is short for the National Associate of Exclusive Buyer’s Agents. Members of NAEBA must be real, bona-fide exclusive buyer’s agents with no commitments to sellers agents whatsoever. Look for the NAEBA logo when browsing through agent websites.
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