Search for an agent instead of a house
I ended a post the other day about searching for homes with a tidbit of advice "Finally, one more little thought, perhaps the first search one should do before looking for homes is to search for a good real estate agent." and thought it might be a good subject for a post of its own.
I was a real estate consumer before I became a real estate agent and somehow, possibly by accident, that is exactly what I did and it makes sense. Here's why.
Let's say you find the perfect house. Who are you going to use to help you with the purchase, the first agent that you run into, possibly the listing agent or the site agent at a new construction model home?
Of course, while the purchase can successfully occur, who is representing you in that scenario, the listing or site agent, or so you might think. Not. Those agents represent the seller and somewhere in the course of your conversation, a brief explanation of agency and the words dual agency will emerge and you'll be assured it's ok. But is it really. If the seller is being represented by an agent, shouldn't you be represented by your own agent and have your interests protected.
The agent has to treat all parties fairly and provide accurate information, use reasonable care and skill, account for all monies and protect all confidentialities. In dual agency, representation duties are limited because a buyer and seller have recognized conflicts of interest. In dual agency, the agent cannot advocate on behalf of one client over the other and cannot disclose confidential client information concerning the price negotiations, terms, or factors motivating the buyer/client to buy or the seller/client to sell. (excerpts from Agency Disclosure Brochure, South Carolina Real Estate Commission)
So maybe you don't want to be in dual agency so what's the next thing to do? Run over to the most convenient real estate office and ask to see an agent. Agents take floor time and you get who you get, they may be quite experienced or they may have graduated from real estate school and passed their test earlier that week. Not the next best scenario for choosing an excellent agent.
Going online might be your next step. And it is a good step because that is how real estate is being marketed today. The only problem with this is that you already found a house you love and while you are doing all this searching around for a really good agent, other buyers may stumble across your dream house, have their agent write up an offer and by the time you get back to trying to buy it, it might no longer be available.
All right, now what is the downside of searching for an agent instead of searching for a house because surely there must be at least one if not several. Well, for starters, you might think that you'll be pressured into buying something you really don't want. Now if you picked a used car salesman to be your real estate agent, that could possibly happen but let's say you choose better than that.
You might also feel pressured that once you have hired an agent, you actually have to buy something. You'll be jumping in their car and burning gas, they will buy you a lunch or two or three and you'll start to feel obligated and you surely know you are costing them time if you aren't buying anything after seeing a bunch of houses. None of that will make you feel very good and likely the agent you're with won't be very happy about that either unless, I'll repeat that, unless, you are truly sincere and just haven't found the right house yet. If you are sincere, the excellent agent that you choose will be patient with you, if they aren't, once again, you picked wrong but you would know that before the third lunch anyway.
Let me make a quick point about new construction and buying from the agent at a model home. I sell a lot of new construction and I am very good friends with a number of site agents. They do a lot of direct selling to consumers and they do just as much business with agents who bring their clients to the models. They tell me that their smoothest transactions are when agents bring in their clients. I live in a newer neighborhood and some of my neighbors used real estate agents to purchase and some went into the model and bought. Guess who the happiest residents are ... the ones that used agents. My best guess, everything was thoroughly explained to them when they bought. Their interests were protected, someone was looking out for them in the transaction. It matters.
Let me wrap up by linking you to a fun post by Ana Hayes at Kevin Boer's outstanding blog, 3 Oceans, titled Shopping for Houses Isn't Like Shopping at Nordstrom's. As Ana says, "if you're visiting some open houses, take a moment and interview the agent guarding the door, and find out if that agent is right for you. That way when you find your dream house, you’ll be poised and ready to make an offer that gets you exactly what you want".
Or if I'm not at that open house, you can find me online. 