Agents for home buyers protect their interests
In response to the Quail Oaks front-page article on Sunday, May 3, and the editorial opinion:
Each transaction in a home purchase has two sides — the buyer’s and the seller’s. Home buyers should have qualified buyer’s agents represent their side of the transaction when purchasing real estate so they have someone looking out for their interests.
When a buyer walks into a shiny new model home in a subdivision, he or she is usually going to be “wowed” by an employee who represents the seller’s interest — to sell the property.
A buyer’s agent will ask the difficult questions and look for facts like proposed roads, possible environmental hazards, foreclosures, etc., and see beyond the beautiful model home.
Realtors, who are good buyer’s agents, will be concerned for their clients’ well-being in the future since a client relationship is worth more than just one sale.
Nancy Radtke
Greensboro
The writer is Realtor and broker for Allen Tate Realtors.
Comments (2)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
there are 3 sides. the buyer, the seller and the commissioned sales person. on research done in 2 markets, the agent gets percentage benefits more from the sale of his own property than the percentage received from the buyer or the seller side on the market average. the agent works harder for himself in every market. real estate agents told buyers for the last 10 years, " you can't go wrong financing 120% of a depreciating asset". "houses can only go up"..this has been the mantra of the concerned agents.
Posted on May 6, 2009 9:11 AM
Nancy, I wish that were true. My agent did a so so job asking the tough questions. I had to ask most of them myself. She was just as eager to see a sale go through so she could get her cut of the commission.
A buyer's agent is helpful as a go between, and navigating the paperwork process.
But it does not relieve the buyer of caveat emptor, "buyer beware."
As a buyer, do your own homework.
Posted on May 6, 2009 11:41 AM