Advice to Homebuyers

You are going to make perhaps the most important and expensive purchase in your life, the purchase of your home.

Will you choose a professional to help you who will be trying to persuade you to pay the highest possible price? If this sounds implausible, it's not, in fact most buyers have done that, at least in the recent past. Luckily for their peace of mind, they may never have realized what happened to them. Recently things have been changing for the better.

The situation I'm referring to is the common one of homebuyers using a real estate agent who is an agent of the seller, whose job it is to exact the highest price for the property.

Here's the most common scenario in the purchase of a home: The seller engages the services of a professional broker whose job is to market his/her property to obtain the best price and terms. The prospective buyer is working with a broker who is also an agent of the seller.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

The buyer, often unfamiliar with the area and the local real estate market, is being served by two professionals working in concert to charge her/him the highest price. The brokers may feel certain that the property is far over-priced. Will they share that with the buyer? Mum's the word.

ONE ALTERNATIVE

You can seek a broker who is willing to be your agent, work for you to get your best deal -- share with you her/his opinion of the value of any property of interest. In most transactions, it will cost you nothing extra -- most sellers agree to compensate the broker who's helping the buyer, even if that broker is the buyers agent. If there is a particular property for which you, the buyer, would have to pay a commission, you would be advised ahead of time and could decide if that was what you wished to do.

I have been pioneering Buyer Agency here in Ulster County for the last few years. At first, there was considerable resistance, sometimes downright hostility, from other brokers who seemed not to want to make changes in the traditional way of doing business. Gradually, buyer's agents have become less uncommon and more generally accepted.  We were the first firm in Ulster County to begin, in 2001, to work with buyers only as their agents, never as subagents for sellers. To provide the best service, we now work with buyers under a Buyer's Agency Agreement, which we believe benefits both our clients and ourselves.

I invite homebuyers in Ulster County to discuss the option of having a buyer's agent. This brief sketch has addressed only one of several important differences and advantages of having your own agent if you are a buyer. Although only occasionally do I have an opening to personally accept a new client, I am available to consult with and advise you at any time if you are working with one of my agents at Teran Realty.

Andrew Peck