I saw this article on MSN Real Estate a few days ago, and thought it was a pretty good one for first time home-buyers to review. Everyone has heard "It is a Buyer's Market", but fewer people than one would expect actually choose a Buyer's Agent to assist them with their purchases. Likely this is because few people understand Buyer's Agency, or that - unless they specifically enter into a Buyer's Agency agreement - the Real Estate Agent helping them is a Seller's Agent and is obligated to represent the Seller in the transaction. If you would like more information about Buyer's Agency in Georgia or South Carolina, please call 706-376-PROS (7767) or email Julie@PropertySourcePros.com anytime, and I can help guide you through the process . . .
What real-estate agents do for buyers; First-time homebuyers research online but use real-estate agents for complex tasks. By Michele Lerner of Bankrate.com
Homebuyers, including first-time buyers, usually use the Internet for the preliminary work of finding homes for sale and collecting information on neighborhoods and recent sales. But those buyers, particularly if they are first-timers, should use real-estate agents to indentify long-term value in properties, negotiate prices and ensure that deals go through.
Functions of buyer's agents: "Many first-time homebuyers will not be purchasing their dream home as their first place, and (they) often have difficulty seeing the true value in homes," says a real-estate agent in Seattle. "Since may of these buyers will be moving in the future, I think it is a good idea to think about resale when the buyer is purchasing. Buyers may not be aware of things like the problem of living on a busy street, or know to check on issues with homeowner-association covenants."
A buyer's agent can point out potential issues that could affect the resale price of a home and suggest changes to increase the home's value.
"I have a three-legged approach to working with buyers," says an associate broker in Arlington, Mass. "I start by getting to know what the buyers want by picking up on the hidden signals that a prospective buyer shows when they see a home. They may not know what they want, but they can feel what they want. When I'm showing a house that absolutely does not work, I dig into why it doesn't work. When we see other houses that may be a better fit, we discuss what does work for them and why."
The other two parts of the approach are negotiating a transaction and bringing that transaction to settlement. "The most important function of a {buyer's agent} is negotiating a good deal on behalf of the buyer and educating the buyer about the market," says a managing broker in McLean, VA. "First-time buyers should rely on their Realtor to provide them with data about comparable homes that have sold, how long a home has been on the market, what homes haven't sold and all the activity that has been happening in the local real-estate market. Ultimately, it is the buyer's decision what price and terms they wish to offer. However, buyers should be able to rely on their Realtors to guide them toward an educated offer on the home."
The agent points out that negotiation occurs not only at the beginning of a transaction over price and terms, but also possibly after a home inspection, an appraisal and at other times between contract and closing.
Fair-housing laws and real-estate agents: While real-estate agents can help buyers in myriad ways, there are some things they cannot do: "Fair-housing laws prohibit discrimination. Thus, an agent cannot steer a client to or away from particular neighborhoods based on their knowledge of an area's demographics. Further, agents cannot explicitly describe a neighborhood based on racial, religious, age or other demographic criteria. The agent can point buyers to websites and other reference sources where buyers can discover this informaiton for themselves." As one realtor interviewed says, "Our job is to talk about the home, not the people."
Working with other professionals: First-time homebuyers need to recognize that they must work with other professionals during the homebuying process, such as an attorney, inspector, and mortgage lender. "Agents are not lawyers, home inspectors, mold experts, financial advisers or tax advisers. While a real-estate agent can give some general background information in each of these areas, they cannot claim to be an expert and must suggest that the buyer retain the services of one of these other professionals should the need arise."
The biggest concern for most buyers today is whether a home will keep its value. An experienced buyer's agent can provide a buyer with the local market knowledge needed to make an informed decision about what to buy and how much to spend.
I made some changes and paraphrases for this blog post. Read the original article online at: http://realestate.msn.com/what-real-estate-agents-do-for-buyers
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