Have you been surfing the web looking for the perfect house to make a home for you? I bet you have been looking for several weeks now and if you're like me when I bought my first home you may even feel that real estate agents are scum. My opinion was largely based off my experience with salespeople period. My father had never used a real estate agent, no one I ever knew had used a real estate agent and I never met a real estate outside of the Internet. So I associated real estate agents, Realtors, as pushy salespeople who could not be trusted. I was 20 and looking to purchase my first home. I knew enough to know that I need a fixed rate mortgage, not to have a bunch of people pull my credit and to shop around the rate and fees. But knowing the importance of a Realtor was nowhere on my list. I searched for homes on my own not knowing the value of being a client of a Realtor. I found my first home online and called the listing agent who in turn showed it to me, but never once asked explained to me the process or what they could do for me. So in turn when I closed and bought the house thirty days later, I found out about the importance of a home inspection, that you could negotiate the seller to pay closing cost, the importance of knowing the seller’s why, the fact you could even get items fixed, and know where you house stands in relation to flood zones. In the end it was a big learning experience, one that I vowed would not be repeated with my buyers if at all possible.
Here are ten reasons why being a buyer’s agent client not customer is important.
1. As a client the agent can tell you all about the sellers.
2. The agent you sign can only tell information you allow. They have to keep your confidence if that is what you wish.
3. The agent educates the buyer
4. As a client it is okay to give advice with facts
5. Attempt to solve problems with the buyer's best interest at heart, not the sellers
6. Negotiate on behalf of the buyer and their interest
7. Provide price counseling
8. Do a comparison on competing properties
9. Promote the buyer’s search. not just the one property of the sellers
10. Recommend financing options that promote the best interest of the buyer, such as the seller paying closing cost
