In this episode of the Get Me Ready to Buy Podcast, we explore the benefits of working with a buyer's agent when purchasing a home. We discuss how a buyer's agent serves as a personal advocate, sets expectations, and navigates the process and documents. We also delve into finding a buyer's agent, including asking for referrals, researching online, and evaluating qualifications and communication skills. Lastly, we discuss the cost of a buyer's agent and share statistics on how buyers found their homes. Tune in to discover why working with a buyer's agent can make your home-buying experience smoother and more successful.

• 1:43 - BENEFITS of a Buyer’s Agent
• 16:19 -  FINDING a Buyer’s Agent
• 22:36 - COST of a Buyer’s Agent

3 Benefits of Working with a Buyer’s Agent

A buyer's agent is an advocate for your best interest. Their paycheck is not the priority. They represent you and they handle issues.

On this episode of Get Me Ready to Buy, we're going to be talking about three benefits of working with a buyer's agent. A buyer's agent is a real estate agent who represents you, the buyer in the process, helping you navigate all the issues that you're going to be dealing with when it comes to buying your home. And they can be beneficial to you in saving you some heartache, in helping you be confident in all the process that's going to happen. There's going to be a ton of little bitty micro decisions that you're going to have to make all along the way. And the buyer's agent is going to be able to help you navigate every single one of those so that you're making confident decisions that you're happy with.

And at the end of the day, you don't have buyers remorse that you're sad that you bought the home that you eventually will end up buying. In this episode, we're going to be talking about the benefits of the buyer's agent, but we're also going to talk about how you find a buyer's agent and what's the cost of a buyer's agent.

1:43 - BENEFITS of a Buyer’s Agent

So let's jump in talking about the benefits of the buyer's agent and a buyer's agent. There are several benefits that we have. A buyer's agent is an advocate for your best interest. The paycheck is not the priority. They represent you and they handle the issues. They're your personal advocate through all of this.

It's not just about a paycheck at the end of the day, yes, it's how I provide for my family. It's how I run my business. It's the money that comes in to run my business. Just like buying groceries keeps the grocery store in business. Buying cars keeps the car dealership in business. Buying parts keeps the car part stores in business. Anybody that sells a product or sells a service, that's how they stay in business and how they provide, just like the paycheck that you earn. So, yes, I'm going to get a paycheck at the end of the day, but it's not just about the paycheck.

I am really your advocate. That is the job I took on your doctor. You might think they get an astronomical paycheck at the end of the day, but if they were really there just for the paycheck, they really wouldn't be worrying about seeing you. They're going to find other things to do with that time or find other ways of getting you taken care of. So just recognize that a buyer's agent is an advocate for your best interest to make sure nobody's taking advantage of you and to make sure that whatever issues pop up that they're prepared for. And hopefully that buyer's agent is going to help you set expectations. They're going to explain the process, what happens from the very beginning of looking at a home to actually getting the keys to that home? How's that all going to work? What's going to happen in that process. I'll sometimes give a brief overview of that at the very beginning, but then I tend to wait until we hit those hurdles because I've discovered early on when I laid out all of the different details, then my buyers would glaze over and not pay attention.

They come back and ask. My daughters played softball, I played baseball for a while, and I've got a cousin's grandson that's playing ball. And we've watched him play T ball, and now he's playing coach pitch ball from T ball. He's been playing for three years now. And I'll tell you that the premise of the game is the same. There's a ball and a bat. A batter swings to hit the ball. The ball goes somewhere into the field.

If it's not caught by anyone, the batter is going to run to one of the bases and the goal is for the batter to get all the way back around the home plate to score. Now, when they were playing T ball, they weren't explained all of the details about it. The mechanics are the same. He knows a little bit more now that he's playing coach pitch, and he's going to learn even more when he's playing kid pitch. So it's kind of like that's how I kind of describe buying a house. I'm going to explain the process, but I'm typically not going to tell you the details of every step at the very beginning because you don't need to know that right now. You'll need to know that when we get to that point of it. Now, if you ask, I'm going to tell you those things because I know the information.

It's just information overload for my buyers, for you. So I'm going to tell you what you need to know and I'd be prepared to tell you anything that you want to know. And I'm also going to establish in setting expectations, I'm going to establish a communication plan. We're going to be talking especially if you're talking to buyers is a little different than talking to sellers because the seller is not necessarily looking at every house that comes on the market. They know when the house has been shown or when it hasn't been shown. So it's a little bit different kind of a communication strategy. But with buyers, I'm typically sending them properties as they come available, either at that moment or a summary at the end of the day. Here's three new properties that came on the market, depending on how quickly my buyer wants it.

I'm going to be communicating with them about, here's the properties. If there's no properties, we'll talk from time to time about, hey, are you keeping up with what the lenders ask you to do? You're still putting money away, you still have your job, you're not looking to change, you're not buying a new car. You're not doing any of those things right now that are going to jeopardize you getting a loan. I'm going to be having a conversation with you about that in our communication strategy, our communication plan. A buyer's agent also helps you navigate all the paperwork to quickly and efficiently get everything accomplished so that you can close on the property. I'm going to help you complete the paperwork. I'm going to send you documents to sign, whether that's contracts or disclosures, whatever it may be, and I'm going to ensure that everything gets done correctly and on time. I have to know the rules.

I'm familiar with all the regulations that come to buying a home in my particular area. If you're not in my area, you have a real estate agent that should know your area, everything that's involved in the purchase of your home, so that we are compliant with all those issues and we don't have problems when it comes to a day or two before we're supposed to sign everything and you pay for it and get keys. We don't want problems there. So we're going to navigate all that paperwork and all the different elements that have to happen so that you can actually close and take possession of the property and also your buyer's agent. Or I'm going to negotiate on your behalf, handle that process, handle the documents. I'm going to coordinate the details, the inspections, the appraisal, the closings. If issues come up, I'm going to go back to the seller side and I'm going to negotiate with them on your behalf based on guidance that you have given me. I'm going to explain all the options to you and let you choose.

You're going to get to choose and tell me the option that you've chosen. I'll go back to the other side to try and negotiate that, whether it is delaying the closing, if it's bumping up the closing, if it's some repairs that need to be made, whatever adjustments need to happen. Your buyer's agent is negotiating on your behalf so you don't have to do that. And your buyer's agent hopefully has a network of real estate professionals and affiliates in the business, affiliated businesses who can help with that purchase. Maybe it's another agent. I was ill and unable to go show a property when a buyer wanted to show it. And one of the agents I work with showed the property for me and I ended up writing the offer. And my buyers bought property.

I wasn't the one that showed them. I had an agent do it on my behalf. So I have a network of agents, and your buyer's agent should have a network of agents who can step in. Maybe I've done a deal with the agent on the other side, know how things can go a little more smoothly even I've not done a deal with them. Maybe we're friends, know each other, so it'll be a little bit easier process in there. It's possible. In that network that I have, I have a database of potential sellers who might have a home that you're looking for. Because as a real estate agent, I'm also looking for people to consider selling their home.

So I have in my database homeowners who we've had contact about issues related to selling their home that at some point lets me know they may be ready to sell their home. So maybe what you're looking for, the neighborhood you're looking for. I have two or three homeowners that I've had contact with in the last six months or a year or two years ago that indicated that they might be willing to sell their home. I can reach back out to them if it's not currently listed, I can reach back out to them and say, hey, we had a communication a couple of years ago. I know you live in this particular neighborhood. I've got a buyer who's looking for a house that's roughly the same size as yours. Would you be willing to sell your home? And if you would, what would you sell it for? And may I show it to them? I can reach out to that, to that potential seller, that homeowner, to see if they might sell. I've also in my arsenal of my network, I've got lenders, handyman, other professionals that are going to deal with your home.

HVAC, plumbing, electrical, whatever inspectors, movers, closing attorneys. I have that network of all those people that are going to be able to help you out. So as your buyer's agent, I am your personal advocate in all of this process. Not only is your buyer's agent your personal advocate, but they're also the person who enables you to have home access. You need to have access to the home. And that's going to come from the MLS feeds and other sources that come in there. And you're going to look at online portals, whether that's Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin, Trulia, a lot of different options. You're going to look at those.

They all get their information from the Multi Listing Service. It feeds the other sources. And when you have an agent who's getting you access, then you get it. First you get it because there's a little bit of lag time. If your agent is searching for properties for you, either manually or automatically, they have it running. I'll have it running automatically and a home comes on the market in your price range, where you've said you want it and the elements that you want. Four bedrooms, three baths, whatever that may be. If it's got those elements, then as soon as it comes online, my system is going to send you a text message and email to let you know that property is online and that property is available if you ask for it to be done as soon as possible.

If you want the end of the day, everybody else will have seen it by then. But if you get it as soon as possible, at least in my system, you're going to get it before it shows up anywhere else online, because it takes 10, 15, 30 minutes for that to navigate through, to populate through all of the internet channels for it to go live. But yet you'll get it instantly, as soon as it's live in MLS. So you get it first and you're going to get accurate information. Sometimes the data gets corrupted transferring over. It doesn't happen frequently, at least not in my experience, but from time to time, it's not totally accurate. Especially somebody would reach out to me and they found a home that they want to go look at on one of these online portals. I'll pull it up in the MLS and it's not showing, but maybe it actually sold a year and a half ago or it just recently went under contract.

For some reasons, those homes aren't available anymore. And I'm going to be able to get you or your buyer's agent is going to be able to make sure that you have accurate information. Not only are we going to be able to give you a list of potential homes that you might want to buy, but a buyer's agent is actually going to set up the showings to get you in the homes to physically put eyes on it. And if you're not able to physically put eyes on the property, then I'm going to do a video walk through. I'm going to physically be at the home and do a video tour to show you as my buyer, what that home looks like. I can tell you what it smells like on the inside. I can tell you what it looks like on the outside and on the inside, where maybe the pictures online, they didn't provide pictures of every part of the house. Well, I'll be able to get you those.

I'll be able to stand in the home and let you see what the home looks like with a person in it. All those different things that if you're not able to physically be present to see the property, I'm going to do that for you. That's all part of giving you home access. You're going to have all the data and information, you're actually going to be physically able to be in the home or virtually in the home, and I'm going to create that for you. A buyer's agent is going to do that. So we're that personal advocate for you. We also give you home access and we give you legal access. I'm not sure if you have a real estate attorney on speed dial in your phone. Grab my phone.

I have a real estate attorney in my phone. I can call her, text her. It goes directly to her cell phone. I typically get a response very quickly to answer a question. I'm working with a buyer right now that has a question about what they may want to do with the home. And I was able to reach out to my lawyer that I typically will close with. I was able to reach out to her and get an answer to the question. Not on my retainer.

I don't pay her for answering those questions. She does that for me because she gets paid when we close properties and she knows if she's answering questions that help me with the buyer, then that buyer is actually going to be able to get a property and she's going to get paid at the end of the day when we close on the property. So I'm not a lawyer and I can't practice law, but I can get legal access because I have one on speed dial that answers my questions. I actually have more than one. So if I'm not able to get that one particular one, I can find out from somebody else. And a buyer's agent that's working for you is going to do the same thing. They're going to have access to a closing attorney, a title, insurance. They're going to have access to the legal questions that are going to come up that might create issues for you being able to close on the home and actually take possession of it. Those are the reasons that three benefits of working with a buyer's agent.

16:19 - FINDING a Buyer’s Agent

How do you find a buyer's agent? Ask for referrals. Your family, your friends, your coworkers, who did they use? So get referrals from your family, friends, acquaintances, whoever it may be, but you're going to get referrals, research online, check them out online, decide if you like them or not. Some agents, their lives are plastered all over social media. You can see everything about them. If you were to explore my social media, you're going to see some real estate stuff on my personal social media. You're going to see pictures of my granddaughter and my family because they are very important to me. You're going to see pictures or videos of me fishing.

I have an acre and a half pond in my backyard and my office is at home. So my pond really is, well, it's backwards to you, but it's back over my shoulder out there. And I had a great time yesterday. Go check out my videos online. That would have been October the 6th, but I had a great day out there because I caught two fish, right? Yeah, I caught two fish from the dock, got my lure stuck, had to get in the boat. I paddled around the pond. I ended up catching ten or eleven fish that day and one of them was at least six pounds. That was amazing.

We had a really rough issue and he was able to, able to help us navigate through it. So we were able to close and actually get the property, get those referrals, do research online, then interview some potential agents, talk to two or three personally. I don't want you talking to anybody else. Just talk to me and let me help you buy your house. But it's to your benefit and your advantage to have a conversation with two or three agents to see if you're a fit for them. Most of us have the same tools we do about the same thing. We may do it a little bit differently. We may do it a little bit with a different style, different, you know, at the end of the day.

McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's in our area, Freddy's, Jack's, in and out, they all sell hamburgers, but they're all a little bit different. It's still a ground beef patty that's been cooked to being done between a bun with some other stuff in the bun with the meat, it's a hamburger. They all taste a little bit different. I'll have a different flavor and a little style to it, but it's a burger. And some of those burgers are those cheaper places like that less expensive. And you can get some burgers at places like Mug Shots or Outback Chili's. You're going to pay a little bit more for burgers from those places. It's still a hamburger patty unless it's vegan.

At the end of the day, it's still a burger, still on a bun, still with some stuff in the bun with it. But why do you choose one over another? Because you like it more doesn't mean it's not good. Doesn't mean that somebody else doesn't love it as their number one more than as much as you love something else as your number one. So ask for referrals, research. Interview some potential agents. Evaluate their experience, their qualification, their communication skills. And I'll tell you, just because an agent has been an agent for a long time doesn't make them better than a brand new agent. Sometimes the long term agents aren't using the latest technology and skills.

Yes, the newer agents haven't seen everything. They don't have all the experiences. They haven't possibly seen all of the issues that may come up with yours. They may work harder. They may have better access to information, make things easier for you. They have a broker behind them helping answer some questions. They may have a mentor helping them out. Don't pick somebody just because they've been around for a long time.

Don't eliminate somebody because they've been an agent for a long time. Don't eliminate an agent because they're brand new. Don't pick one just because they're brand new. You decide for you who the best agent is to work with. Just make sure you're basing it on all the information you have available to and who you think you're going to fit with, because that agent is going to get intimately involved in your life. I'm not going to know all of your credit history. I'm not going to know all of the money you have in the bank, but I'm going to know a lot about that because I have to know if you're buying a $300,000 house, that's one kind of payment. That means one kind of income.

A $200,000 house is a different kind of payment, a different kind of income. A $500,000 house is a different kind of income. It's a different kind of payment. I'm going to know those things. I'm going to maybe see you at your worst when you've just gotten off of work with a long day, and we got to go look at some properties. See you at your best day. I'm going to hear your frustrations. Just know at the end of the day, you're going to be vulnerable with me or with your buyer's agent. And so you need to have a buyer's agent who you know, who you like and who you trust. That's how you find one.

22:36 - COST of a Buyer’s Agent

1% home builder or their agent, and directly from the sellers, or they knew the sellers 5%, and from print, newspaper advertisement, less than 1%. So you're looking online and you're using a real estate agent to find it. And 86%, remember, 86% use that buyer's agent. Now, paying a buyer's agent for the past, and I don't know how long, because I wasn't an agent back when all this started, buyers agents have been paid from the sales price from the listing brokerage. The listing brokerage would go in and make an agreement with the seller to list their property for X percent or an X dollar amount. And it's negotiable. If anybody tells you there's a certain percentage that agents charge, well, that might be what's charged mostly, but there's no written rule of what it has to be. It is all negotiable.

You hear me say that? It is all negotiable. If an agent says something and you're not happy with it, push back. That agent may walk away and said, if you use me, this is just how much I charge. This is what it costs. But how often did you question your cardiologist or your kid's dentist on what their charges were? You went to them because you liked them and they did a good job. Anyway, I get it. Selling a house, buying a house, it's a big deal and a lot of money going to an agent can be a big deal, but look at what the agent brings the table and does for you. Anyway.

How do agents get paid? As it stands right now, and this is even changing, it's changed in the last two or three weeks. Buyer's agents are typically paid out of the portion that the listing agent is getting from the seller. If they're going to sell a house, and I'm going to use a dollar amount, if the listing agent has agreed to sell their house for $10,000, and they say, for that $10,000, I'm doing all this marketing, I'm doing all this stuff, I'm making sure you have all this. Plus I'm going to give, let's say $5,000. It could be four, it could be six, whatever. It could be a percentage. But I'm going to give $5,000 to a buyer's agent who brings a buyer who buys the property. I'm going to give that to them out of my side.

So a buyer's agent is telling their buyers, I don't work for free, but you're not paying me out of your money on the back end for the services that I provide for you. My services are being compensated out of what the listing broker is going to get when the house sells. That's how we've been paid in the past. As a buyer's agent, the Department of justice is dealing with the National Association of Realtors to change that. Some national brokerages have already agreed to change those policies. The National Association of Realtors is working through what change and their policies have to happen for you. For sellers to be able to have their properties listed without requiring them to put an amount of compensation to a buyer's agent, currently you typically have to enter in an amount, but all that isn't being changed in the process. And I believe I did an episode of this podcast one or two episodes back, navigating through those costs of what it would cost to buy a home.

If whatever home you're buying, your down payment could be 3% as a minimum, your closing cost could be 3%. So if you're buying a $300,000 house, you might need $20,000 in cash for you to be able to put a down payment and pay closing costs in prepaids, insurance, taxes, whatever on the property. And when all of these changes finally navigate through where we expect it to go, you're then also going to need to find a way of having money to pay for that buyer's agent who has been working on your behalf, giving you as your advocate, giving you home access and giving you legal access that's not free. It's going to be paid for the services they provide. And so all that's changing. So it could change the amount that you have there. It's going to create all kinds of new challenges and new opportunities in the real estate agent. We're not sure where it's going to come out.

We don't know what's going to happen. We're getting prepared for all that. So anyway, just know that right now in most markets and for most homes that are on the market for sale, the buyer's agent that's working with you is typically going to be compensated from what you pay for the property, from what the seller is going to be able. To keep from all of that. That's going to go to pay for your buyer's agent. You're paying for it, but you're paying for it in the purchase price of the house. When all this shakes out, you may be paying for it just like you're going to pay for the home inspector and pay for the appraiser, pay for the closing attorney. You may be paying for the buyer's agent fees.

Not sure how that's going to work, but just give you a heads up for you to be aware of that. Hey. I hope this has been helpful to you. And I hope that you choose to use a buyer's agent not just for us to get a paycheck, but just so that you can minimize the headaches that you have and that you're able to buy your home smoothly and move in without any issues and love the home that you now have. Have a blessed day.