Buyer's agent: How important is it to get a "local" expert? (Cincinnati: appointed)

[UriahHeep]

Greetings. I have a question about getting a buyer's agent and I hope to get some feedback from the folks here. My wife and I are looking for a house in the following areas of Cincinnati: Clifton, Oakley, Northside, Pleasant Ridge, and (possibly) Columbia Township.

We know we want a buyer's agent, but the dilemma is this. We previously used an agent to sell our house (near King's Island) a couple of years ago. We really like this agent: she is upfront and responds quickly to our concerns. She mainly works out in the northeastern suburbs though, and doesn't necessarily know the real estate in the neighborhoods we are considering.

So the question is: how important is it that the buyer's agent knows the specific neighborhood? And what's more important: that we trust our agent's integrity or that the agent knows the localities?

Any insight from the forum members is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[progmac]

that is hard. it is incredibly important that the agent know the city. selling in the agent is SO MUCH DIFFERENT than selling in the suburbs. for example, the radius for comps in most situations can be as small as a couple of blocks. there are places where a house selling for $200k would sell for $80k three streets over. Also, historic integrity can add value in the city whereas it really isn't something suburban sellers deal with.

All that said, if you will mainly use your agent as a way to get into houses and not seek out many recommendations or much guidance, it could work.

If you're interested about some of the housing stock currently on the market, PM me, there is a strong chance I visited the house in question if you are in the $100-$200k range. We targeted basically those same areas except for Oakley and Clifton. Ultimately we bought in Pleasant Ridge.

[wolden]

In my opinion it is very hard to find a true buyers agent. All realtors need to maximize their commission, they do this by directing you to houses at the top of your price range. Moreover, they tend to be optimists by nature. Thus you have to, in the end, find out a lot of truths on yur own. You are at a huge disadvantage, because most people just buy a few houses in their life. They are easy prey.
My advice: study your own comps and your own crime reports at Cincinnati.com. Agents will give you a completely unrealistic set of comps for a property, to justify the price. They will, for example, in Columbia Tusculum only show you comps from up the hill, not 2-3 houses "down" the hill. Guess what that does to your value?
Good neighborhoods in Cincinnati (Mt Lookout, parts of Hyde Park, Indian Hill) are completely over priced because...there are so few of them. Most of the neighborhoods have significant sectors fighting crime and blight. Don't believe me? Just look at the crime stats for Clifton.
In the end its "Caveat emptor". Especially if you are new to Cincinnati, watch out for the local realtors. They will take you to the cleaners.
Sorry if I sound a little bitter, maybe I am, but think carefully about what I've said...and do your own research...

[Sarah Perry]

When my husband and I were under time pressure to find a house in this area--because our other house had already sold--we thought we wanted to buy in Clifton, Hyde Park, North Avondale or Mt. Lookout. We put ourselves in the hands of one of the agents who's a well-known specialist in properties in Clifton and Hyde Park. She was patient and showed way more houses than we could have managed to find on our own, but was no help whatsoever in terms of pricing advice or negotiation.

As it turned out, we were looking in those neighborhoods for a property that didn't really exist--a mistake more than a few buyers probably make. I had some familiarity with neighborhoods from growing up here, and one evening I was trolling the MLS listings online when I spotted a listing in a different area where I had one of those slap-your-forehead-coulda-had-a V8 moments. 10 years later we're blissfully happy with our purchase. The realtor got her 1/2 of the commission (which she iindeed spent a fair amount of time working for), but she turned out to have zero to do with finding the house.

Bottom line: your own agent can probably save you some time and effort, but will probably not save you from paying too much or making a mistake.

[Wilson513]

A buyers agent is always a must because you don't pay her but she will do a lot of work for you. I think it is more important for a listing agent to be really familiar with the neighborhood, pricing, etc. An out of town buyer needs a savvy agent with knowledge of the whole city. I don't trust an agent to prepare an offer or negotiate. Those are legal tasks which are sometimes done poorly by real estate agents who have no skill set for them. Accept that you will have to pay an attorney to properly protect you in the offer. As to negotiations, remember that it is the mission of a real estate agent is to see that a commissionable transaction occurs even if you as the buyer should walk away. Don't expect much protection from an agent and then you won't be disappointed.

[jlawrence01]

I am not as excited by the average "buyer's agent" that I have been referred to who is generally the newest agent in an office. I like to look at the neighborhoods myself and select the one or two top producers who have a good portion of the listings in the neighborhood. An agent who has 6-8 listings in an 8-10 block radius generally has a pretty good knowledge of the area.

IMO, the worst mistake you can make is to select an agent from the suburbs if you are interested in a city neighborhood. More often than not, they lack the critical knowledge of the area.

Buyers have to remember that whether they deal with a "buyers agent", a "listing agent" or any other kind of agent that the person gets compensated by selling them a property. They do NOT get compensated by getting you the RIGHT or the IDEAL property. You have to do your OWN legwork, check out the neighborhoods yourself to make sure it is a neighborhood that you want to live in. Many agents will avoid serious questions as to whether the schools system is decent and how the crime rate in an area is.

Wilson makes a really CRITICAL point that really needs to be emphasized. Get an attorney involved before you sign ANY documents that bind you. Many agents in certain states will say that it "is not necessary" and all that stuff; however, fundamentally they do NOT have YOUR interest at heart. They are looking to close a sale. The attorney represents YOU and a good attorney can get you out of jams if there are any misrepresentations or other problems. After all, how many $150-250k transactions do you generally do in a lifetime?

[UriahHeep]

Thank you all so much for your feedback and opinions.

After reading through all the comments and responses, I would like to add the following. My wife and I have a pretty good idea about the neighborhoods, except perhaps Columbia Township. With the agent, we're looking more for someone to get us into the houses and guide us through all the steps and make sure all the t's are crossed and i's are dotted. I have been through the process once before (about seven years ago), but it would be useful to have someone with attention to detail looking over our shoulders.

The agents we met during open houses came on very strongly when they realized we don't yet have an agent. Ugh. Speaking of agents, I agree that it is hard to get a true buyer's agent given the way the commission system is set up. But we are not in a hurry to buy; we plan to look around till we find something we like and not let an agent push us into a purchase.

Has anyone here had experience signing short term agreements with buyer's agents for, say, 1 or 2 months?

Again, thank you all. Also, we'll definitely get an attorney involved. Like jlawrence01 said, it's not every day you make $200k transaction. progmac, I'll be PMing you shortly.

[Wilson513]

A lawyer's assistance in this matter will help you immensely. Start at the resource below. This is the referral service of the Cincinnati Bar Association. Competent lawyers will welcome your interview of them with no commitment on your part; usually on the telephone. Don't be reluctant to discuss fees and even set a maximum that you will pay. You even can ask them to stand by with no services until you have zeroed in on a deal.

Cincinnati Bar Association (http://www.cincybar.org/intus/referral/ - broken link)

[restorationconsultant]

Never buy without an attorney. Older houses in city limits come with potential orders, or even forgotten orders, from the city such as a VBML Vacant Building Maintence License, A really stupid Cincinnati Ordinance that basically is an excuse for city inpectors to not have to reinspect on orders. Many forclosures/short sakles these days have city orders.

The other thing : You need to be absolutely sure that the work done was with proper permits. Too many people "wing it" with "handymen" in this town. Even in High end areas like Hyde park I've seen homes that had no permits, substandard work and conditions that might make getting homeonwers insurance difficult.

You can do permit research form the city of cincinnati website. Also check taxes, many home in the areas you mentioned may have a 10 yr tax abatement. Some of thsoe ru out soon and its one thing to but a hsoue with 500 a year taxes but not know its going up to 5000 in 3-4 years.

Home inspection, an independent inspector, is absolutely critical with an older house.