Thinking about buying?

If you are serious about purchasing a home you need to be serious about having ONE agent work for you. There is no cost to you and having an agent work in your best interest will get you the most for your money. I have written up the top ten reasons to have one person work for you:

1. Buyer Agent versus Listing Agent: A buyer agent is keenly attuned to a client’s needs and more accustomed to negotiating for specific concessions and have no conflict of interest with the seller. They exclusively represent your personal interest in attempting to negotiate the overall best transaction regardless of which home you may be considering. You as a buyer may jeopardize the leverage that you create by working with the listing agent.

2. Hidden Conflict of Interest: A listing agent or seller’s agent while they may not take you only to their listings will possess a variety of conflicts which you may or may not be aware of. It may also be a seller in which they are trying to establish a relationship with or trying to gain the listing on the home itself for future business. Your interest in the home may further the listing agent’s ability to further develop a relationship with the seller. Again this may outweigh your agentʼs desire to negotiate the best transaction on your behalf.

3. Parallel Interest: Working with one agent maintains a similar focus and interest between the agent and the buyer. There is no risk of the agent pushing a particular home or transaction for personal gain. Working with multiple agents will create an environment where the only opportunity for the agent to be compensated is in a transaction whereby you pick the home that they have shown you. The listing agent has now become, in a sense, a used car salesman pitching you a product rather than providing a value added service.

4. Equal Access: A common misconception is that different agents have access to different spaces and that by utilizing one agent as opposed to multiple agents you will miss out on opportunities in the marketplace. This is simply not true. All residential space that is available is listed on the multiple listing service for residential real estate. This service allows agents to search any and all available space in the marketplace. All agents have access to the same information.

5. Resources and Services: When you hire an agent to represent you, typically the services and resources he brings to the table are his personal skills. If you are looking for an expert to assist you throughout the entire selection, negotiation and provide the best service then a buyer representation agent on an exclusive basis is certainly good business sense.

6. Control/Authority: By hiring a single agent you are empowering them to represent your interests. Your agent can then have specific discussions with the seller’s agent with regards to your requirements and make the claim that you are his client. Once potential sellers are aware that the agent has the ear and attention of the decision makers she will command a much greater respect from the seller in the negotiation process. By working with multiple agents you have eliminated any control or specific authority that could be assigned to the agent.

7. Time Management: There is no question that your time is extremely valuable. By utilizing multiple agents you have doubled or tripled the amount of effort that is required on your end to deal with the various individuals and digest all of the information presented. If you hire one real estate agent who understands your needs completely they can then decipher this information for you and present it in an intelligent fashion which will allow you to make informed business decisions without wasting any significant amount of time and effort.

8. Comprehensive Services from Start to Finish: The process of securing a new home can be very complicated and time consuming. By utilizing agents on a non-exclusive basis not only are you duplicating your own time and effort over an extended period of time but you are also exercising multiple individuals who at some point may lose interest or the desire to provide detailed, accurate information. By working with one agent who ultimately will be compensated when the transaction is signed, regardless of when that is, you ensure that the advice you receive is in your best interest.

9. Time is Money: Not only is this phrase true for you as a decision maker for buying a home but it is also true for a residential real estate agent. Any agent who has the time to work on a transaction without a 100% commitment from his client obviously has more time available than they know what to do with. I guarantee you that successful real estate agents do not work on a non-exclusive basis because they have better things to do with their time than work with people who have not agreed to give them the same level of commitment that they are willing to provide

10. I Don’t Like Signing Agreements: While some buyers perception may be that by signing an agreement authorizing an agent to represent them they are then locked in to utilizing that agent for an extended period of time. In the event that the services are not meeting your expectations or your requirements, goals or objectives have changed you have the ability to terminate the relationship. There really is no risk in authorizing one agent to work on your behalf.