WHAT IS BUYER AGENCY

AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

I have been explaining this for over twenty-five years. For several years, it was to agents who couldn’t imagine that anyone could represent buyers instead of sellers, but we’ve “won the revolution” and the real estate industry is much more balanced and fair now. Now almost all buyers have someone representing them, forms protect both buyers and sellers, and the public is getting what they thought they were getting all along, but which we were not able to give them all until the industry changed.

A buyer's agent represents buyers rather than sellers, in a contractual relationship which enables (and more important, requires!) the agent to do what is best for you - such as keeping confidential any information about you that might hurt your negotiating power, telling you everything the agent knows or can find out about properties or sellers' situations, helping you ask the right questions and evaluate the answers, negotiating in your best interests, - putting your interest first.

Not all agents offer this extra service, and not all who do are equally trained and experienced in working for buyers. One way to evaluate is the ask about their credentials. Accredited Buyer Representatives (ABR), for example, have had a very thorough course and have documented experience. If you have to ask an agent about representing you, chances are they don't prefer to do the extra work involved. (Law almost everywhere requires that any agent not representing you at least tell you so, and Tennessee law requires that you have a written agreement, just as you must have a written agreement to list your home. Otherwise, the agent has no responsibility to you other than being honest and not really being on one side or the other.

I've been representing buyers since long before it became popular. It is very gratifying now to see so many articles recommending that buyers be represented, and to watch the growth of the Real Estate Buyer Agent Council and other similar organizations.

As you interview agents, ask about professional credentials and experience. For example, I have earned several designations: Certified Residential Specialist, Graduate Realtors Institute, and Accredited Buyer Representative. I am member of several national professional organizations also and have won RE/MAX International awards over the years.

An occasional newspaper article says you should not have an agreement to work with one agent. I disagree. A better strategy is to educate yourself, interview agents just as you would if you were listing property, and put your confidence in someone who demonstrates in a trial period that she knows what she’s doing and works hard.

Only an agent who knows the loyalty is shared will give you the kind of service you want. Otherwise, you may find that agents call you only when the special homes they find do not meet

the needs of those clients who have contracts with them. Or they’ll be hesitant to tell you about properties for fear you’ll see them with some other agent. Or, the other extreme, they’ll try to show you everything whether or not it is close to what you need, just to be sure someone else doesn’t get to you first. Life is simpler when one agent knows what you want, has seen your reactions to properties, and can be trusted to preview and be selective, balancing that efficient use of your time with your desire to be sure you don’t miss good possibilities.

Some agents work only with buyers. Others, like me, market properties also. I choose to represent some sellers because I enjoy that aspect of real estate also and because after many years in real estate, people I helped to buy houses want me to help them later with selling them. And they tell their friends. But I do everything possible to avoid conflicts of interest. Ask me how I work. On my own listings, I always represent the seller. On everything else, I represent the buyers.

Please feel free to ask any questions or to talk to others I have worked for.