Educating Buyers About Listing Agents

Some prospective home buyers are under the incorrect impression that they should be contacting listing agents directly who represent homes for sale that the buyer sees on the internet, or of those agents who have signs in front of property or who are holding open house, etc. so that the buyer can get more information, more quickly & that perhaps this will save them money, when really nothing could be farther from the truth.

It should be part of your job as a buyer's agent as to why contacting the lister themselves directly is unproductive. Here are several reasons to communicate to the buyer:

1. Have you ever tried to reach a realty agent who has a home listed for sale? More often than not, many of these agents are not available to answer their phone when the buyer calls, some infrequently check their email, and, be it by phone or email, a large number are very slow to respond (if they respond at all - some won’t) to inquiries from persons they do not already know, even if you identify yourself as a prospective buyer for one of their listings in a message you leave.

2. If the buyer is able to actually connect with a real estate agent, a substantial number of them will not give you as a possible buyer of the home the same degree and detail of information about a property and related facts to you as a consumer as they will communicate to your buyer's agent--someone who is a fellow peer Realtor in the business.

3. When (and if) a buyer is able to interact with an agent who represents a property for sale, there are many of them who use evasive tactics in providing answers to the buyer's questions &/or who will employ quite sneaky & high-pressure tactics with the buyer; i.e. "Oh yeah....that one--there has been a lot of interest about that home...there may be another buyer putting in an offer soon...so if you want to see it, you'll want to move quickly" --when perhaps some or none of that is true.

4. The real estate licensee who is the listing agent has a legal obligation to get the highest price and best terms for the seller, not the buyer. Rather they must do there very best to position the process and the transaction to favor the best interests of the seller, not the buyer. In other words, it is their job to get the buyer to pay the highest net price possible and have related sale terms that are most favorable to their seller client.

5. That the buyer will not save any commission in the vast majority of cases, even though some listing agents may (although rarely) try to imply otherwise. If a person were to buy through the listing agent, all that poor buyer would be really doing is paying that seller’s representative around twice the commission that they would normally be paid if they were solely the seller's agent. Is that wise? NO!

Tell them "With me as your own buyer agent, you will probably be better protected in the transaction having an agent solely on your side, not the sellers. And since the seller pays the commission (as shown on the final settlement statement), my services are usually at no direct cost to you."

So …the seller will likely have at least fairly sophisticated representation. Will the buyer? Well, in a word, NO(!) - not if your buyers deal directly with the agent who has the listing.

To "protect" your buyers, be sure you communicate to them that you as their buyer's agent is the one who needs to be "introducing" (in the context of first showing and wne the offer is being prepared) them to any property, be in new or resale.

Let the buyer know that if they learn of a property that is something that interests them, that they should contact you as their agent directly and that you'll do all the “leg-work”, getting the details from the seller’s agent, information on the property & having all of their questions answered, all while potentially saving you (and your buyer) lots of time, money & frustration in the process by having you as the guide by their side!

I am interested in things that you as an agent say to a home buyer about these matters; perhaps examples you give to help demonstrate the points raised here...