NYT Covers the ‘Buyer’s Broker’

Anyone who has spent even five minutes thinking about buying a house likely spends 3 days on sites like www.streeteasy.com perusing the market and for fleeting moments living out their pent-up dream house fantasies (“why yes I would a waterfall in the bedroom!”). It’s free to look, fun to dream, and it beats finishing up that email to your Aunt thanking her for the Christmassy cocktail napkins she sent in June.  You can see all the pictures and even get some rudimentary sales data on the building/area to get an idea of what will really be an appropriate offer on a home you are interested (Note: definitely go see the place before bidding).

 

So do you really need a broker as a buyer?  Well, you don’t need shocks on your car.  But if you were about to take a many thousand mile road trip, you just may want them.  The road to closing in a sale is laden with pitfalls.  Not only should you have an advocate negotiating and representing YOUR interests (not those of the seller’s as is often the case with a single broker involved), but when making the biggest purchase decision of your life, it may help to retain the advice of a professional.

“Well of course you as a broker you are promoting a buyer’s broker.”

That’s also why we run a blog discussing real estate.  So then don’t take our word blindly for it, check out The New York Times recent article promoting the use of a Buyer’s Broker.

There is one point of contention regarding the practice of choosing broker-less buyers as a seller’s broker to induce more commission for themselves, and possible the owner getting a better deal.  As a broker, broker-less buyers are a wild-card, driven by their own timeline and perhaps unaware of the pressures of the market and potential for others to come along.   As such, the cards are more on the table when the buyer has a broker – they have their paperwork ready, are serious about the bidding process, and if they are worth their salt the cooperating broker is not working to waste their time.  ‘Getting it Done’ is a very powerful motivator.  Blowing off serious interest for the potential for a better deal will often leave you with no deal, and if the property has gone stale then the party may have already moved on.