Leigh Anne Monk: In another segment we discussed the importance of getting pre-approved with the lender to understand how much home you can afford prior to beginning your home - really as part of the initial home buying process. The other equally important actually parallel process to getting pre-approved with the lender as well as those initial steps is the importance of hiring a buyer’s agent. So in this segment we are going to discuss what to look for when hiring a buyer’s agent. Mark, start us off.
Mark Wozniak: Well one of the most important steps in this process is making a decision that, "I do want to have a buyer’s agent. I want to have a someone who is representing my interests as a buyer," because as exciting as this process can be - this home buying process - it’s so important to have sort of a professional who has experience who can work with you to help you through all the potential pitfalls and things to watch out for and you want to make sure that that agent is indeed working for your interest as a buyer agent and not working on the seller's behalf.
So that’s something always to discuss upfront with the agent is: "How will you be representing me?" You’re sure going to want them representing you as a buyer’s interest. That means they have a fiduciary responsibility to you and that they keep what you say in confidence and are always working on your behalf in your interest. Very important.
We always, always encourage people to go through this home buying process with the help of a real estate professional. One of the wonderful things about it is that you can get this representation typically at no cost to you because the commissions - when you’re on the buying side of the transaction - are normally paid to that agent by the seller. So when you hear about real estate commissions those are not coming out of your pocket. Those are coming off the seller’s side of the transaction. So it is a wonderful thing, but something to be careful of is that sometimes there are buyers agents who charge fees, a variety of retainer fees or other kind of administrative fees as well.
Leigh Anne Monk: Right. We as the Equity Rise Real Estate Group have made the policy decision that we will not charge those retainer and administrative fees so you can be confident that when you work with our team you’ll simply be able to take advantage of our professional services, but they will be paid for by the seller.
Mark Wozniak: Right. It's really at no cost to have professional representation so that’s sort of like a pretty good deal absolutely. Another important thing to look for in a buyer’s agent is understanding what kind of consulting they’re going to do with you upfront before just starting the home search? Understanding are they really going to be taking the time to really sit down and do what we call buyer consultation with you? Obviously you’re coming into this process probably having an idea of neighborhoods, home styles, home types that you’re interested in, price ranges, but it is so, so important to get that experience from the buyer agent side and have them go through some questions, some things that you may not have considered. They can have a very important profound impact on your home search.
Leigh Anne Monk: You know, Mark, that is a really good point. I’ve had probably not one buyer’s consultation where I haven’t had the buyer say, “Oh, I haven’t thought about that. I didn’t think about whether I wanted a fireplace or a two car garage versus a one car garage," and all the questions that we ask in almost like an interview process really help us solidify exactly what they are looking for and makes the home searching process a lot easier.
Mark Wozniak: That’s right and although I understand certainly being enthusiastic and wanting to get started it’s so, so important to sort of set the stage beforehand. So be sure you have an agent that is going to do that with you and, of course, if you have not gone through the pre-approval with a lender you want to be sure you have an agent who can help recommend a lender to you and will help get you through that process before going off and visiting homes.
Another thing - and this is somewhat subjective but highly, highly important - is understanding the professionalism of this agent or agent team that is going to be representing your interests. And there are certainly a number of ways for you to sort of do your due diligence on the professionalism of the agent. First, one that we always recommend, of course, is to get referrals from any friends or colleagues who may have worked with that particular agent before. Or do they have testimonials available perhaps online or through other sources where you can get an example from past clients how they performed?
But barring that kind of input there are other ways for you to look in the professionalism and one way that we always encourage people to do and that is very convenient for you and you can do from the comfort of your own location is to go on their website because truly an agent’s website is a reflection of themselves.
It’s a reflection of their professionalism and you’re going to want to see - "Is that website attractive? Is it well organized? Does it look professional? Does it provide you as a buyer with the tools that you need such as convenient search features? Is the website geared toward trying to help educate you as buyer? That is really going to be a reflection of the job that the agent might perform trying to help you through this whole process. And also, again, is it current does it look current or does it look abandoned? That can sometimes be an indication of whether this particular agent is really engaged in the whole process.
Leigh Anne Monk: I think that is a really good point I know with our team we do blog and one of the advantages of blogging is that is forces us to keep up to date with the current trends to actually have things to write about. We also blog on certain subdivisions, so when looking for a buyer’s agent and you always want to ascertain what kind of market knowledge they bring to the table and a good way to do that is read their blog and see what they know.
Mark Wozniak: That’s right and again that ought to be conveniently available online for you to access but it’s a wonderful way to see not only are they current but do they have a good knowledge of the market? And that is another point to discuss. Feel free to have the agent demonstrate to you that they understand and can present to you statistically and even anecdotally what’s going on in various market areas that you’re interested in. It’s really a great way to help understand that this agent has their finger on the pulse of what’s going on or not. And ways I would encourage you to do that is having them present to you the trends, statistics and just demonstrating, "We know what’s going on here in these various areas and neighborhoods."
Another thing and this is maybe a little unconventional: Feel free to ask the agent to show you the materials they prepare when they’re on the selling side because that is where you actually do have material where it further shows what kind of care they provide to their clients.
Leigh Anne Monk: What kind of detail…things like that, right?
Mark Wozniak: What kind of detail? What kind of professionalism do they put in when they are working with selling clients? It is a little harder to tell on the buyer’s side because there aren’t perhaps brochures available or websites available on the buy side so ask your agent that. And also understand what their communication style is. In other words, when are they available and how are they available.
Leigh Anne Monk: Exactly I think one of the things that I have been pleasantly surprised with over the years is as texting has become more popular my clients loved to receive a text. They like to hear about an update. It could be as simple as something as a home inspection scheduled for a certain date or could be more complex like, "Hey, a new home has came on the market. Meet me at two. This one is going to go more quickly." And they appreciate that communication. It's quick and they can get back to me and not interrupt their work day as well.
Mark Wozniak: Yeah and it’s important to know that you’re working with an agent who feels comfortable using whatever technology your comfortable with. That’s why we have our Blackberrys, we like texting, emailing, phone calls, - whatever. Just make sure that it’s geared to how you like to work and it’s someone that you think is going to stay in touch with you.
Another thing to look for is to get a sense of what their negotiating style is. Will they do a great job representing your interests? One way to investigate that is to ask for some anecdotal stories on how they’ve helped negotiate deals for their clients in the past. It's part of what you can get through testimonials, referrals and just generally looking at their professionalism.
So those are some of the key things to look for when you’re looking for a buyer’s agent to help you select who you want to work with. Important thing to know is that when you’ve made that selection and you know who you want to work with, the next step is to sign a buyer agreement with them and that really formalizes the relationship and helps you get started with that agent. From that point forward the agent will officially be representing your interests and will be the one that works with you all the way up through your home purchase and the settlement on your home.
Leigh Anne Monk: Yeah and that buyer agreement really protects you as well and it is nice to know you have someone representing your interests along the way. It actually removes you from some of the daily negotiations that happen back and forth because you’re represented as well as the seller. And the two agents together can work together for a mutual beneficial result.
Mark Wozniak: Right and usually those buyer agreements are for a certain length of time so at the end of that period if you wanted to search for another agent you certainly are free to do so. So they’re really not onerous documents…
Leigh Anne Monk: Right. They’re not binding forever!
Mark Wozniak: Right they’re nothing to be fearful of, that’s for sure. It is just an important next step in moving with that home buying process. So thanks for watching this segment on how to select your buyer agent and, again, it’s parallel with getting pre-approved with the lender.