- What is the difference
between a buyer's agent and a real
estate agent?
- What is a dual agent
and what is a designated agent?
- What makes Best Buyer's Broker Realty
different?
- How do you get paid?
- If you're paid a
percentage of the sale price, isn't it
in your best interest to try to keep
the price high?
- Will I have to pay the
seller's commission as well as yours?
- If I buy a house For
Sale By Owner (FSBO), doesn't it cost
me more if I buy use a buyer's agent?
- What happens if I find
a home on my own?
- What does it mean when
the sign on the front lawn says Ours
Exclusively or Exclusive?
- Other agents tell me
that they are the only ones who can
show the homes listed with their
agency.
- Why do I have to sign
a contract with you when I don't with
a traditional agency?
- Why do you charge a
retainer?
- You say you protect
me. What does that mean?
- Just exactly how do
commissions work?
1. What is the
difference between a buyer's agent and a
real estate agent?
A buyer's agent is a real estate agent.
Traditionally, real estate agents are
seller's agents. Best Buyer's Broker Realty
has chosen to represent buyers
only. We are both licensed and regulated
by the State of New York Department of
State (NYSDOS). We both have an obligation
to put the goals of our clients above our
own and always work in their best
interest. Just as an attorney represents a
client and is protecting his client
against harm, we do the same.
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2. What is a dual agent and
what is a designated agent?
A dual agent is one who claims to
represent both buyer and seller in the
same transaction. A dual agent must
disclose to all parties that they must
give up most of their rights of
representation. There is an agent called a
designated agent now. NYSDOS has said that
any agent can represent a buyer or a
seller in a single transaction, but if the
home is listed with the firm that
represents the buyer, the broker is
considered a dual agent (working for both
the buyer and the seller). In other words,
the broker of a traditional listing firm
can designate an agent to represent the
buyer for this specific transaction. We
feel that although it is legal, it is very
difficult, if not impossible for one
office to fully represent both buyer and
seller.
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3. What makes Best Buyer's Broker Realty
different?
Best Buyer's Broker Realty, Inc. is a
licensed Real Estate Agency. We are
different in that we have made a business
decision to work for home buyers only, not
home sellers as is done with the
traditional real estate firm. We believe
that most buyers are not totally familiar
with the selling/buying process and
sellers or real estate agents representing
the seller take advantage of that fact. We
are devoted to protecting the buyer, to
empowering the buyer, to educating the
buyer and to shielding the buyer from the
normal practices intended to help the
seller sell his home for the most money
and with terms most favorable to the
seller. We use our experience and
expertise to put the buyer on an equal
status with the seller. The buyer wants to
buy the best home at the lowest cost, with
the least amount of stress and with terms
most favorable to the buyer. We guide him
along the right path to achieve this goal.
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4. How do you get paid?
In a real estate transaction (the purchase
or sale of a home), the seller is either
selling the home on his own, or he has
listed it with a real estate firm. Usually
when the owner is selling himself, it's
because he wants to keep the commission he
would pay an agent. The seller usually
asks the same price, or more, for his home
as he would if it were listed with a real
estate agent. When a home is sold through
an agent, the purchase price typically
includes the commission. When it is sold
by the owner, since the price isn't lower,
you still pay the commission in a sense,
but it's pocketed by the owner.
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5. If you're paid a
percentage of the sale price, isn't it in
your best interest to try to keep the
price high?
We have a contractual obligation to work
for the buyer. Our agent always attempts
to negotiate a lower price for you. Our
usual commission is 3% of the purchase
price of the home. That fee is shared
between the agent and the firm, each is
getting 1.5%. For each $1,000 we are able
to save you, the agent's commission on
that savings is reduced by only $15. We
believe that by working hard for you, it
will result in you recommending us
whenever you hear about someone wanting to
purchase a new home. Our goal is to have
happy clients who know that we always
acted in their best interests.
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6. Will I have to pay the
seller's commission as well as yours?
No! When we find the right home for you,
we research that home and recommend what
we feel would be the fair purchase price.
You then tell us what you would be willing
to pay and we are obligated to negotiate
with the seller to establish the proper
acceptable price to include our entire
commission. In other words, all fees due
to Best Buyer's Broker Realty, Inc. are
included in whatever you decide to pay for
that home.
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7. If I buy a house For
Sale By Owner (FSBO), doesn't it cost me
more if I buy use a buyer's agent?
The main reason a seller is selling his
home on his own (FSBO) is to save the
commission he normally would pay to have
the expert help of a real estate agent.
Many sellers are not familiar with the
techniques and procedures followed when
selling a house. Consequently, most FSBO
homes are overpriced. Often sellers learn
the offering -- not the actual selling --
price of house similar to theirs in the
neighborhood, then, based on "pride
of ownership" price their house even
higher! There are two problems with this
"home-grown" approach: their
house may be worth a lot less objectively,
and their neighbor's house may have sold
at substantially less than the initial
offering price.
When we inspect and evaluate a home, we
will tell you what we think the home is
really worth in today's market. You then
let us know what you are willing to pay
for the house according to your level of
desire and fair market value. It is our
job to negotiate the lowest price the
seller will accept, including all
commissions. That price should be no
higher than your maximum price; many times
it is much lower.
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8. What happens if I find a
home on my own?
When you become our client, we teach you
how to find homes. We want you to find a
home. We encourage you to drive around the
neighborhoods you're interested in looking
for properties other than those we've
already told you about. When you decide to
view a home, we will accompany you during
the showing. We'll comment on the good
aspects of the home, just like all other
real estate agents, but we'll also comment
on all the negative aspects of the home.
We provide you with all information so
that you can make an intelligent, informed
decision. If you decide to make an offer,
we will research the area to see what
similar homes have sold for and discuss
with you what we feel that home should
sell for. Remember, most FSBO sellers
don't know how to price their homes!
After your offer has been accepted, we
accompany the home inspector to make sure
that you know as much as possible about
what your costs will be during your first
year of ownership. Based on the home
inspection, we will re-negotiate with the
seller if necessary. We review the
contract of sale prior to signing and make
suggestions that are in your best
interest. We are available to you during
the entire process.
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9. What does it mean when
the sign on the front lawn says Ours
Exclusively or Exclusive?
An office exclusive is a home listed with
a single real estate office that is not
being offered for sale to the general
public. I call them "secret"
homes. Usually, the listing agent has
suggested that the seller list with the
office and let them try to sell it on
their own, sometimes for a reduced
commission. In any event, they do limited
advertising in hopes of attracting a buyer
quickly. We are always looking to find
these "secret" homes. Many are
listed on websites, in newspapers and
magazines. They must let us show these
homes to our clients, while traditional
agents can be excluded from showing these
homes to their customers.
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10. Other agents tell me
that they are the only ones who can show
the homes listed with their agency.
New York's Department of State supports
home buyers. They have ruled that the
buyer can choose to work with someone on
their side or with someone on the seller's
side. If they choose their own buyer's
agent, any home listed by a real estate
broker must me made available to the
agent, just as it is to the buyer himself.
So, your buyer's agent can show you many
more homes than the traditional agent. We
can show you any home in the Multiple
Listing Service, any "secret"
(office exclusive) home, and any home
being sold directly by the seller (FSBO).
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11. Why do I have to sign
a contract with you when I don't with a
traditional agency?
Best Buyer's Broker Realty, Inc. works for
you, the buyer. Traditional agents work
for the seller. The seller signed a
contract (the listing agreement) with a
real estate agency in which the agency
promises to use its expertise to help sell
the house at the highest price, on the
best terms, and in the shortest amount of
time. In fact, seller's agents accomplish
those objectives for their clients.
As buyers, you too have the opportunity
to hire an experienced real estate agency
to use its expertise to help you find the
best home at the lowest cost with the
least amount of stress. The act of hiring
the agency is the buyer agency agreement.
This is a legal agreement that requires us
to do the best we can to help you reach
your goals. We are very good at that. We
have helped many buyers purchase homes at
a price that would have been impossible
without our aid.
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12. Why do you charge a
retainer?
We ask for a fee up front which is
deducted from our commission at the
closing. We are going to train you to
effectively find your new home. Depending
on your criteria, we use many different
techniques to find what you want. In order
to prove to you that we can deliver what
we say, we allow you to try us for two
weeks. If for any reason you feel it would
be in your best interest to find your new
home another way, you may terminate our
agreement within that trial period and
your retainer will be returned.
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13. You say you protect
me. What does that mean?
One of our goals is to supply you with
enough information to help you make an
informed, intelligent decision. We provide
you with all information that we can find
out about the home, the schools, the crime
rate, neighborhood problems, the condition
of the home, an estimated sale price,
etc., and anything additional you might
want to find out. Here are some of the
ways we help:
- We show you how to find homes in
your price range and supply you with
school information, including ethnic,
expenditures, classroom size, lower
grade scores, regent test scores,
poverty rates, plus much more.
- You are encouraged to look through
newspapers and magazines. We forward
you our For Sale By Owner list of new
listings many times each week.
- When you want to find out more
information on any home we do the
research and make the appointments.
- In the initial viewing of the home,
we are looking for the many items that
a traditional agent will not tell you.
- We look for any items which might be
a negative, i.e. bedrooms which have
no closet, bedrooms which must be
entered by going through another
bedroom, kitchens where the
refrigerator is in the next room, low
ceilings, lack of storage space, etc.
- If you decide you would like to make
an offer on the home, we research
comparable sales, provide information
about the neighborhood, crime,
schools, etc. We discuss what the
probable sale price will be and advise
you about a possible offer price. You
make all the decisions.
- You will tell us the price you would
like to pay and it is our job to
negotiate to get your new home for the
lowest price we can, but no higher
than the price you gave us. We are not
asking you to increase that price. If
the seller is asking too much for the
home, we will recommend you pass on
this one and go on to another home.
- We accompany the home inspector
looking for any item that is not up to
our standards.
- Any negative item that is uncovered
in the home inspection is reviewed
with you. We discuss strategy on any
re-negotiation that would be made.
- Re-negotiate with the seller.
- We offer to review the contract of
sale, which is created by the seller's
attorney. It obviously favors the
seller. We have negotiated the deal
and we want to review the contract to
make sure that everything we wanted is
included in the contract. Your
attorney is there to make sure that
all is legal; we are looking for other
items.
- We explain the different types of
financing and the need for home
insurance.
- Just prior to closing we accompany
you on a walk-through, making sure
that the home is in the proper
condition and check any items the
seller was to fix.
- We attend the closing to make sure
that everything goes along smoothly.
- We are available after closing to
assist you with any additional needs
you might have.
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Just exactly how do
commissions work?
When a seller hires a real estate agency
to represent him, the seller and the
agency agree to compensation for the
services that the agency will provide.
Four (4) parties share that fee. There are
two sides to each transaction, the listing
side and the selling side. The listing
side consists of the listing agent (the
person who took the listing) and the
listing firm (the company the agent works
for). The listing agent always
works for the seller. The selling side
represents the agent who brings a willing
and able buyer to the seller for the
purchase. The selling agent can be a
sub-agent who also represents the seller,
or a buyer's agent who represents the
buyer. The selling agent and the selling
firm usually share the commission under
the seller's agreement.
Every listing agent tries hardest to
sell his own listings. That way he will
get the agent's fee on the listing side
and the agent's fee on the selling side,
while his (listing) firm will also get
paid for both sides. If another agent in
the same office acts as the selling agent,
the first agent gets paid for the listing
side, the second agent gets paid for the
selling side and the firm gets paid for
both the listing and the selling side.
When an agent with another firm is the
selling agent, the listing agent and the
listing firm get paid for the listing side
and the selling agent and the selling firm
get paid for the selling side.
Best Buyer's Broker Realty, Inc. always
represents the purchaser, on the selling
side (as opposed to the listing side) of
the transaction. (We never list homes for
sale.) Each agent is always looking out
for the best interests of their client.
Because of our office policy of only
working for the buyer, we never have any
conflict of interest and don't collect
fees from both the listing and the selling
side of the transaction. We have an
obligation to protect our client from the
many problems and pitfalls that buyers
fall into which result in them either
paying too much for the property or not
getting what they assumed they were
getting. It is not our duty to let the
seller know when their agent is taking
advantage of his client, just like it is
not the duty of the traditional real
estate agent to tell you when he is taking
advantage of you.
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