There are terrific real estate bargains available today. Interest rates are at all time lows. It’s time to move some of your assets into owning a nice home in Palm Coast, Florida But where?
Say you have found several houses on a real estate web site that look like they might be what you want. What next? You have friends in Palm Coast; they know the place-call them and ask them to recommend an agent friend? Or Call the Listing Agent directly about the house being promoted? You need to talk with someone with access to the MLS. Who???
Location is most important; everyone agrees to that. But location is more than an address. It is a lifestyle...Here is my opinion on why you should contact a Buyers Broker in order to get an unbiased opinion of houses you found on the internet and are considering. (Of course…I am a Buyers Broker!).
WHO REPRESENTS YOU? You really need objectivity to compare houses before you make your offer. Unbiased answers to your questions and all the relevant information-not just the surface story about the seller’s motivation to sell-you need to try to learn about confidential information sellers prefer you not find out.
You need to know whether you have someone working for just you. As a Single Agent-they can do that. But if your your real estate agent is acting as a Transaction Broker-they are pledged not to disclose confidential information and to work for both the Buyer and the Seller. Before your choose an agent, make sure you know who they will represent. Most act as Transaction Brokers so they can sell their own, more profitable listings.
KNOW THE LISTING-SIDE AND THE SELLING-SIDE COMMISSION SPLITS AND SELLING INCENTIVES. The Listing Agent for the properties you want to investigate is likely to earn much, much more commission if they sell you one of their own listings. The properties they most need to sell are the ones they have listed themselves!
Most homes you see on internet sites are listed with a Multiple Listing Service. The Listing Brokers receive 100% of the final commission proceeds that are paid by the Seller at closing.
These Listing Brokers offer to “co-broke” with other MLS Brokers in order to get them to try to sell their listings. “Sell my Listing Agent’s listing and I will give you half the commission” kind of thing. This is called the “Selling- Side”Commission and often includes a bonus for selling a specific property.
The real estate commission pie has many different sized pieces. The Selling Side Broker receives this share of the commission and then pays their agent and also the Selling-Side Broker who, in turn pays his Sales Agent according to an individual subcontract between the Broker and the individual Agents working under the Broker’s license.
OK, so you can call an agent friend who lives in the town. Now you are well-aware and wary about the fact they probably will earn much more if they sell you their own listing. But you plan to ask them to help you investigate other listings you have found on the internet. This seems better. They can be more objective and you find the best house in the best location for the best price?
Almost. Percentages offered as Selling-Side commissions and incentive bonuses can still be very influential to your agent friend; your Selling-Side Agent. The difference is often in the thousands. Listing Brokers often offer cash bonuses, golf memberships and other incentives to entice Selling-Side agents to push a particular listing.
You need to know the commission splits. You are not shown commission information on the internet real estate the web sites. “For Buyers” listing print-outs and the ads Buyers receive intentionally do not disclose the commission or commission split information. Buyers usually don’t learn until closing how much of the total commission the Listing Broker was paying to the Selling-Side. I think buyers need to know all about real estate commission details before they make an offer.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. Your Selling-Side Agent needs to know and research the up-to-date history and lifestyles of the particular Palm Coast neighborhood and even the particular street the listings are on. Just a la-te-da tour in and out of listings is not enough. This is a very big investment.
For example. Maybe the house you see on the net is located in our well established, desirable, gated community of Grand Haven. Well, Grand Haven itself has 23 different Villages. If you plan to live in Grand Haven, you need to know a little something about all of them and a lot about the Village the listing you are investigating is in. I have been selling real estate in Palm Coast since 1996 and I still don’t know much about each of the Villages of Grand Haven. (But I do know the developer’s top salesperson and work together with her with every one of my buyers who wants to learn about a listing in Grand Haven.)
Buying real estate is entering a new paradigm. Buyers are more sophisticated. They are starting their searches on the internet and then selecting someone to communicate with in the local area about what they have found. However, most are still unsophisticated when it comes to choosing an agent. They think it really doesn’t matter that much and go with a friend of a friend, or the agent who has listed the house they saw on the internet, or go with a big name franchise, what’s the difference…If you're just looking for pleasure and just want house tours; none. If you are a serious buyer; Lots!
A serious, qualified buyer needs an honest agent who Knows, Finds Out and Will Share all the important details about every house under close consideration. You one of those? Then you need a Buyers Agent...Talk To Ted!
ADDENDUM: Here is a posting on Active Rain from another real estate agent that, like me, specializes as a BUYERS AGENT…
Home : Blogs : Kris Wales - Macomb County MI real estate blog & homes for sale search site : Macomb County MI real estate blog
Your seller may be very nice, but it isn't my job to make him happy.
I wrote a blog post earlier about appraisals, and what we as buyers agents can do to help our buyer clients to understand current market value and to avoid appraisal issues.
One of the comments I recieved said something like "You may not make the sellers happy..."
I'm a nice person. I like to think that I'm an easy agent to co-op with, and that I do perform my duties with care and diligence. My brokers have never received a complaint about me, nor do I ever expect them to. However, being nice and co-operating with the sellers agents doesn't mean that I won't do my job to the best of my ability for my client - the buyers.
My fiduciary responsibility as a buyers agent is to my buyers. When they find a home they wish to purchase my responsibility kicks in to high gear. I will analyze the current market for them and present them with all of the facts that I have on hand. They will then be able to make an educated decision about the price to offer for the home. I will then take their offer to purchase, along with my data and present it to the sellers.
Not long ago I heard these words from a sellers agent after my buyers offer was presented to them: "My seller is a nice man. He's worked hard, and his home is in good shape. He really deserves a better offer and isn't happy with this one."
My reply? "I'm a nice lady. I work hard. My home is in nice shape. I deserve good things to happen to me. But my home is still only worth XXX and it wouldn't appraise for more than XXX, and I surely wouldn't expect a buyer to pay more than XXX."
My buyer didn't overpay for that home, and we moved on to find them another home.
HERE’S THE LINK:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1452920/your-seller-may-be-very-nice-but-it-isn-t-my-job-to-make-him-happy-
