Why Work With An Agent?
When you’re buying a house, there is one fantastic reason why you should always work with a real estate agent: it’s free. That’s right, a buyer’s agent (which is simply the term for a real estate agent who happens to work with buyers, which 99% of them do) will work for you for free! She won’t bill you by the hour, she won’t charge you for the mileage she puts on her Lexus taking you to see houses, and she won’t ask for your first-born child or your signature in blood. At least, she shouldn’t. If she does, contact the appropriate authorities.
How A Buyer’s Agent Gets Paid
The buyer’s agent is paid a commission out of the sales price of the house, which is shaved off of the seller’s profit and split between the seller’s agent and your agent. So no matter how many hours your agent spends with you, poring over listings, walking from the curb to the front door in the blistering heat or freezing cold, unlocking lockboxes, calling to make sure you still want to buy a house, or dealing with ornery sellers (and their agents), you can be sure that your agent fees will come to a total of zero dollars and zero cents.
But let me be serious for a moment. A short moment. Working with an agent gives you an edge in the marketplace. Agents have access to their local MLS (Multiple Listing Service) so that they can see new properties as soon as they come on the market. They get full, detailed listings right away – not just the basic listings that take extra time to appear on search engines and websites.
An agent spends time on the phone, shooting emails, doing research, and getting property information so you can still work a day job and afford to buy that house you want so badly. They’ve got connections. And you don’t. So revel in one of the few times in your life when you can hire somebody to work for you and not have to pay them a single solitary cent!