10 BENEFITS OF USING A BUYER'S AGENT
I came across this article by Rebecca Fairley Raney on howstuffworks.com. She lists 10 great reasons why it's advantageous to use a buyer's agent when purchasing real estate - check them out!
10 - Ethical Consideration: make sure you hire a realtor who is a member of the NAR (National Association of Realtors). As a member, one must abide by a higher set of standards. Not living up to these standards can result in suspension and revocation of a real estate license.
9 - Pricing Expertise: Buyer's agents understand the market in each neighborhood. They understand the different nuances of each area and have expertise in pricing homes. It's their job to make sure they are up to date on new market trends in each area.
8 - Requesting Repairs: So you found a great property - but you won't feel right about it until certain repairs are done. Buyer's agents help to negotiate these repairs with the seller's agent. Don't go at it alone! Your buyer's agent understands what is feasible.
7 - Finding Available Homes: Though most homes for sale are widely available for buyers to access through websites, in some cases, sellers don't want the fact that they're selling to be widely publicized. In those cases, only the real estate agents know the houses are for sale.
6 - Tackling the Paperwork: If you've ever bought a house, you've probably dedicated a full shelf somewhere to the documents that were involved in the transaction. These probably include the written offer, the written and signed counteroffer, the little details (like specific repairs) and what exactly was and was not included in the sale. The paperwork can be tiresome.
5 - The "Purple Room" Phenomenon: Aside from the technical aspects of a sale and the mistakes people can make in the paperwork, real estate agents know neighborhoods and houses inside and out. Mendenhall calls it the "purple room" phenomenon. If a buyer wants a house with a purple room, she says, the experienced real estate agent will know the house that's for sale that has that room. In a more general way, an agent will be aware of features that don't show as well on the internet. If a buyer is looking for a house with a space that could be used as an office, an attached mother-in-law unit or a room that's perfect for showing off a prized grandfather clock, a human agent is more likely to find a match than a real estate Web site.
4 - Unemotional Negotiation: As levelheaded as you think you are, when you're fighting with a seller over adding a hose to the dishwasher because the water drains on the floor, it's easy to lose your cool. Having an agent to write the requests objectively and forward them to the seller saves you the trouble of getting overly emotional about the deal.
3 - Code Expertise: If you want to buy a charming little house near a business district and turn the front parlor into a candle store, you need to know if the city will allow it. Typically, an experienced real estate agent is familiar enough with local zoning ordinances to make sure you don't buy the wrong house.
2 - Through Record Keeping: Although real estate agents aren't lawyers, they can serve as good resources years after a deal is closed. In some states, licensed agents are required to keep full files of all documents in all transactions for several years.
1 - Avoid Closing Problems: When a sale nears closing, all kind of pitfalls can kill the deal in the final hours. A real estate agent knows to watch for trouble before it's too late.
