The Buyer’s Agent: What You Need to Know

A buyer’s agent serves to protect the interests of a homebuyer through the entire home search and purchase process. This agent will be your advisor and advocate as you navigate homebuying and serves to inform your decisions at every step, from setting up your search right through your closing. While you may only purchase a few homes over the course of your lifetime, an experienced buyer’s agent has walked through the process many, many times, and with that experience comes valuable insight that the agent will pass on to you!

Here’s what you can expect from your buyer’s agent:

1. Help with identifying your needs/wants to find a best-fit home
   Your agent will have expertise and creativity in meeting your needs within your budget.
2. Education on market conditions
   Agents are entrenched in the local market activity, and can give you information about what’s selling, for how much, and how this compares to property you are considering for yourself.
3. Assistance with your home search and community research
   A local expert agent can provide you with more timely information than Zillow (where info is often outdated or inaccurate) and answer questions about the community for you.
4. Facilitation of negotiations and preparation of transaction documents
   Your agent will represent you in the negotiations process and put together all of the paperwork that comes with a real estate transaction—his or her expertise will safeguard against missteps and make progress toward productive solutions to any conflicts that may arise.
5. Oversight and follow-up on inspections
   Your agent will be able to counsel you as you review your inspection report, and handle any needed repairs. He or she will have a network of industry professionals from home inspectors to contractors to make trusted referrals.
6. Seeing the whole picture and maintaining sense of calm
   As a homebuyer, you’re making what could be the largest investment of your life. Emotions may run high at times, and it is enormously helpful to have a levelheaded, professional person to understand information as its presented, evaluate situations that arise, and present it all to you so you can make decisions in a well-educated, clear-thinking manner.
7. All this at no cost to you!
   One of the advantages of being a buyer is that you get to take advantage of these services, knowing that they’re being paid for by the seller of the home you buy! Sellers pay a percentage of their home sale price toward commission for their agent, and the buyer’s. So enjoy!