Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I had read in another post that realtors in Georgia are always representing the seller. This is actually against the law in our state because it is difficult for a buyer to get a truly fair deal without representation. So I have to wonder if there are a lot of disgruntled home buyers in Georgia and how does one get a fair deal?
In most states the agent's first responsibility is to the seller. There are, however, "buyer's agents" who you can hire, but you're going to pay them to represent you. I'm not 100% sure if Georgia allows them, but I don't see why they wouldn't.
In GA, you have a buyers agent and a sellers agent. You pay nothing to the buyers agent, they are free to you! The seller is the one that pays the full commission to sell their home, even though your buyers agent will get anywhere from 2.5-4% of the commission. You do not want to even think about buying a home without a buyers agent. What I say do is interview about 4-5 buyers agents and get the one that best suites your needs and one that has been in the business for quite sometime with a good track record.
My advice is to do your own research and use buyer agent. But use buyer agent to get information only and you need to have your opinion. Although buyer agent is supposedly to be act in your interest, buyer agent got his/her money from the seller. In a way, that's conflict interest there.
Real estate agents represent themselves. They just want the deal to close - price is not relevant to them. Just try to get a "seller's agent" to sell a house at a price you think is a fair price when they don't. Not all, but most seller's agents don't know the first thing about selling. Helping someone buy a house that they fell in love with IS NOT selling!
The only way a buyer gets a fair shake is really understanding the following backwards and forwards:
1. Know the specific area that you are looking to purchase a house in - do your own comparative price analysis; if you have an appraiser friend and you have a business brain, he can teach you how to do this. Don't be all over the board when it comes to looking for a house. Target one or two areas and have patience!
2. Know the Georgia form contracts as good or better than the average Georgia lawyer; and if you don't, then invest a few hundred dollars to sit down with a Georgia Lawyer to go over the intricate details of the form contract(s). The Devil's in the details - that's where all of the "screw'n" takes place. A good real estate lawyer can get you up to speed on this part, but don't forget, he can't really help you with "finding a good deal" - that's up to you.
3. Learn how to use a Seller's Agent to your advantage. If you're looking for a "fair shake", then don't engage a realtor to help you find a house. Deal directly with the listing agent, whenever possible. Remember, when the listing agent doesn't have to split a commission with another realtor, that listing agent will be chomping at the bit to sell you the house you've found on your own. I.e. sometimes you can get the Selling Agent to work that seller pretty hard for you, if you know what you're doing. Most of the time, I prefer to buy a house through a listing agent than "By Owner". The only time I've used a transaction broker to show me houses/land is when I'm looking in areas that I am totally unfamiliar with - then it makes sense to find a decent buyer's agent.
4. When you find a house that you think you want to make an offer on, don't fall in love with it to the extent that you can't just walk away - in fact, practice walking away at least once; don't buy into artificial time deadlines - like you only have 24 hours to accept the offer. What's going to happen if you don't accept it? Is the "Contract" going to take a hostages and then explode? Are people going to get hurt, sick or die? IT'S ONLY A HOUSE!!!
5. Know what a fair price is for the house you want to buy, and then offer something lower, but within reason - low-balling a person out of the park only makes you look like you came from a 3rd world country and can't afford to complete the deal.
6. Be prepared to give a substantial deposit - not $1,000; and if you really want the house, give the seller a "clean" contract. Clean contracts with substantial deposits are hard to turn down, and the seller will take your offer seriously, even if it's on the low side.
7. Educate yourself thoroughly about the closing costs, picking place of closing, and closing process BEFORE YOU EVEN START NEGOTIATING A CONTRACT; at the very least, before you sign a contract. Too often buyers sign contracts without having a clue about who customarily pays for what, or what he might be able to get the seller to pay.
Thank you for all of the great information. I have worked as a real estate agent in the state of Connecticut within the last few years. I completely understand how the agents get paid. We have buyer's agents and seller's agents. There is a definate conflict of interest if an agent tries to serve both. In our state an agent can refer the buyer to another agent in their office but in actuality this is still a conflict of interest because the "broker" is still overseeing both the sale and purchase, so in other words the only way to protect your interests as a buyer is to use a buyer's agent from another brokerage.
The post I saw in this forum stated that ALL agents in Georgia represent the seller. If this is the case then the only way I can see getting a fair deal would be to find properties by contacting each selling agent and then once I have found one I can hire a lawyer to come into the picture to protect my interests. This seems like a very combersome way to find a home. I would much rather work with a real estate agent that will represent my interests and not the seller's interest. So this is why I am asking if it is true that all agent's represent only the seller.
I do know that this is a possibility in some states and therefore you can "hire" an buyer's agent for a fee. This seems ridiculous to me.
I think my next step is to contact the board of realtors in the state of Georgia to explore the state's laws and of course contracts.
There are buyer and seller agents in Georgia as well, similiar to Connecticut. Buyer agent will represent you and he/she will act on your immediate with seller agent (from other brokerage). Still, since he/she doesn't get money from you directly (got 3% commission from Seller), sometimes, he/she will not act on your best interest.
So I guess is that your initial assumption is not correct: there are only seller agent in Georgia.
The first thing that northerners (Connecticuit included) need to understand before they move to Georgia (or Florida for that matter) is that the local customs and laws are quite different.
Your mindset in thinking that there is a conflict of interest where a real estate agent doesn't exclusively represent either the seller or the buyer is a holdover from the way they do things in another state. Georgia specifically allows this, so it is not a conflict, even though it would be a conflict in Connecticuit. You are relying on the way things are done in Connecticuit to infer that the way it's done in Georgia is not right. It's just a different way, that's all. There are many things that are done in Connecticuit with regard to real estate transactions that are very different than how they are done in Georgia, Florida and many of the other southern states. One example is recording and surveying - I believe that you all record your surveys and then just update them, rather than order and review a new survey every time a pice of land is purchased.
The best thing you could do is wipe out everything you know about real estate based on another state's laws and customs and re-learn how it's done in Georgia - I don't mean this in a bad way, but it's almost better if you had no knowledge at all. I know this because I personally know a couple of title agents that work in Florida that came from Connecticuit.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
O.K. A lot of great information
