Exclusive Buying agent (sale, real estate, buying a home)

[BrooklynPub]

Has anyone used exclusive buying agent to purchase a house, they are supposedly independent realtor who help you pick the right house and negotiate a good deal for you.

[TomMoser]

If you do a search of this board for Buyer Agent you will find several threads where this has been discussed. People on here have many different points of view about the matter.

[Spanky25]

Originally Posted by BrooklynPub

Has anyone used exclusive buying agent to purchase a house, they are supposedly independent realtor who help you pick the right house and negotiate a good deal for you.

Only YOU know what a good deal is.

[Lori Brewer]

I may be biased, but I think it's a necessity in buying a home. When making one of the most important financial and personal decisions in your life, what is the downside to having an agent whose sole job is to help you get the best deal?

Without a buyers agent, the agent helps the buyer find a home, but is still working for the seller as an agent of the seller, basically their ethical duties are to maximize the price for the seller. However, when one hires a buyer's agent, the agent helping the buyer find a home is actually an agent of the buyer and has no duty to the seller. In the first scenario, the buyer is just a customer of the agent, not a client, and the agent acts more like a middleman or a liaison for the buyer. In the second situation, the agent is a buyer's agent, working FOR the buyer, they safeguard the buyer's interests, advising them on a variety of due diligence items and helping them to negotiate. In that scenario, the buyer is the agent's client, and the agent is an advocate for the client. This becomes important not only in negotiations over the price, but also issues that pop up after the price is agreed upon (think COs or buried oil tanks etc).

Buyer's agency is very popular all over the U.S., but has been slow to take off on Long Island. Many LI agents don't understand buyer agency and don't like to do it, becuase it involves more liability.

Many agents on LI that do buyer's agency will require that the buyer sign an exclusive right to buy, meaning if they buy a house at all during the specified period (including MLS listed houses), the agent is entitled to a commission. They can fill in whatever percentage they want for the commission, but 3% is common as the buyer broker's fee. The contract is designed to prevent a buyer's agent for working day in and day out with a buyer for months, only to learn that they went to an open house without the agent, and put an offer in without them. If that should happen, the agent who has the contract with the buyer can still collect the commission.

Listing agents typically offer out some percentage of commission to buyer's agents if the property is listed on MLS. It varies. But it's negotiable. So the buyer's agent can try to negotiate a higher fee (a buyer's agent does take some liability off of the listing agent and the seller). If the seller refuses to pay the fee set forth in the buyer agency agreement to the buyer's agent, the buyer's agent has the right to ask the buyer to pay the difference (under the contract). But in most cases, it's understood that the fee will come out of the sale proceeds, not be paid separately by the buyer. The buyer's agent may just accept what is being offered out by the listing agent, even if it doesn't match the fee in the contract, if they can't negotiate otherwise.

[TomMoser]

Please note that, by law, all real estate commissions in NYS are negotiable. There is no such thing as "common" when it comes to a commission rate.

[MrBitterness]

It sure would be nice if we didnt have to hear the biased opinions of RE agents in this thread.

[TomMoser]

Originally Posted by MrBitterness

It sure would be nice if we didnt have to hear the biased opinions of RE agents in this thread.

If the OP is buying a home he or she is going to be dealing with a real estate agent one way or another, so it's really not biased of agents to try to educate on the differences between a sellers agent and a buyers agent.

[kayfouroh]

Originally Posted by MrBitterness

It sure would be nice if we didnt have to hear the biased opinions of RE agents in this thread.

I don't think either of them are offering their services so I guess it IS biased but not to the point where they're pushing for clientele.. imo not a big deal.

[TomMoser]

He's done this before. Always wants us to justify our existence. I find him tiresome at best.

[MrBitterness]

Originally Posted by TomMoser

He's done this before. Always wants us to justify our existence. I find him tiresome at best.

That is 100% wrong and your problem is you choose what to read and what not to read. If you actually took time to read and not just react you will see that I have on numerous occasions stated I am not against RE agents, have given my buyers agent numerous referrals and have stated you are a good poster.

What I have a problem with is when someone posts a question like this. Obviously your opinion as a RE agent will be biased, regardless of whether you are looking for business or not out here. You are too defensive and quite frankly come across as a miserable person at times, like right now.