Going house hunting without a Buyers Agent can have expensive consequences.
Admit it. When you’re driving around, you can’t resist driving into a new home community to look at the model homes. Who doesn’t like looking at new homes and new home communities? You don’t call your Buyer’s Agent because what could possibly go wrong? You may even think to yourself…
“I don’t want to bother an agent. I am just looking around.”
Why is this a dangerous way of thinking?
Because someone just might sell you a home.
Wait, that’s why you didn’t call your agent…because you thought your agent would try to sell you a home? If this is your rationale, you don’t have a clear understanding of the role of your Buyer’s Agent. Let me explain, but first, let me tell you a story:
I started working with a client in the Spring of 2015. We met because I helped her best friend purchase a home in Delaware the year before. After meeting and getting acquainted, we talked about her plans for retirement and whether she would be relocating to Delaware as her friend had done.
We talked about her budget and the home buying process.
We looked at some possible communities and home plans, but she was not yet ready to make the move.
Nonetheless, when she came to visit, she and her friend would drive around and go into model homes without me. We talked many times about why this isn’t a good idea.
I assured her it was not an imposition nor a waste of my time. It is part of the job of a Buyer’s Agent. This is how the agent gets to know more about which home will really work for the home buyer.
She did not listen and several times she ran into aggressive salespeople who were motivated to sell her a home in their community.
Most of the builder salespeople knew she was working with us, but eventually, she ran into one who became extremely pushy, convinced her not to call me for advice, and convinced her to sign a contract with a LARGE deposit. By the time I learned of it, it was difficult to extricate her from a bad deal.
What to expect when working with a Buyer’s Agent
Before I became a REALTOR, and now the Broker/Owner of my own independent real estate brokerage, I spent years in sales in both the hospitality industry and the computer industry. When you are in sales, you have a quota and you are expected to make that quota each month, each quarter, and every year. I loved being in sales, but I was never the top salesperson because I always preferred to be a consultant. If I could solve a client’s problem, then they would buy, and I would be paid. As your Buyer’s Agent I am your personal consultant and client care specialist advocating for you in your house hunt. Your needs and wants in a home come first. This approach is vastly different than the salesperson who wants to sell you a home—any home.
Think of the salesperson working for a builder in their community. Their job is to:
- Sell you a home.
- In their community.
- On a lot they have available now.
- Preferably today.
This doesn’t make the salesperson a bad person, it just means they do not represent YOU. Your Buyer’s Agent DOES and will have your best interests in mind
Compensating the Buyer’s Agent
But you may have concerns over who’s paying your agent and if this money is coming out of your own pocket?
Your Buyer’s Agent will eventually be compensated in some way regardless of which home, which builder, or which community is right for you. This comes out of the Seller’s side of the transaction whether you end up buying a new home, an existing home, or even when the Seller is a Builder. Your Buyer’s Agent will be compensated but by the Seller’s side, not you.
That’s how it works. So, please print this out as a reminder and take it with you, and…
Don’t go house hunting unprotected!
If you are ready to explore Delaware as your retirement destination, be sure to request our free Relocation Guide. It is filled with information on each of the Delaware counties and many resources to help you learn more about our area.
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