Choosing a Real Estate Agent: Buyer Representation

North Fork Real Estate Part 2

Once you are ready to buy a home, your next step is to choose a real estate agent. Historically, North Fork Real Estate has been done by using a Seller’s Agent. A Sellers’s Agent has been hired by the seller to represent them in the sale of their home. A Sellers’s Agent can also work with a buyer offering them fair and honest dealings. In the past several years, real estate on the North Fork has begun to shift. We are now seeing the use of both a Buyers and Sellers Agent in transactions. More and more buyers are choosing to hire their own agent to represent them in their transaction. The benefits of a Buyer’s Agent are many. Here are a few to consider before you make the decision to hire a Buyer’s Agent or stay with the traditional Sellers Agent.

1. Your agent does the legwork. While most people enjoy looking at homes during the buying process, it can be a cumbersome undertaking. How many times will you fall in love with a home online only to find out that it is not what it seems? A Buyer’s Agent will research and preview homes and eliminate those that don’t fit the buyer/clients’s criteria. This will allow you to focus on the homes that do fit your wants and needs.

2. Having someone looking out for your best interests. The Seller’s Agent is  obligated to protect the interests of the seller. In kind, a Buyer’s Agent is obligated to protect the interests of the buyer/client. Therefore, in this type of transaction, each party has their own representation.

3. Confidential guidance. A Buyer’s Agent provides comparable sales and helps structure an offer on the buyer’s behalf. This is all done in a confidential manner that only a Buyer’s Agent is able to provide to a buyer/client.

Buying a home should always be a positive experience. Be sure you explore all of your options before taking that first step.

 — Erin Kaelin, North Fork Real Estate, Inc.