Re: Buyer’s’ Agents. I agree, it seems there would be a conflict of interests, unless the seller was not going to be paying a commission.

Re: “Top Realtors”. The reason I brought this up was I knew of an instance where a large development was for sale and listed with an inexperienced Realtor. It wasn’t selling ( I think it was listed too high). Anyway, that contract ended and an experienced Realtor took over (she had a “team”), and within a short period of time every lot in the development was sold. With her aggressiveness, experience, reputation and contacts, she had the clout to do what the newbie (?) couldn’t.

Your other examples can also ring true. When I sold real estate I “specialized” in first time home buyers. I had a lot of empathy for them and enjoyed holding their hand all the way through the buying process. It was always exciting when they got the key to their first home.

I do agree, you need to “connect” with your Realtor. It’s like any business, if you don’t feel they are looking out for your best interests, it’s time to move on.

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Wanted to comment on what you said about the following:

One way of finding is good Realtor is to also look at the ads in the newspaper or telephone book. If a Realtor is listed in the top percentile, or advertises honors they’ve received, there is a valid reason for that. They’re probably good at what they do.

This is a double edged sword here. If a Realtor is “top of his or her class,” so to speak, you might find they aren’t so great at helping the little guy looking for an inexpensive house (or selling one). This is something I’m going to talk about during the “Selling Your House” series of posts and finding a Realtor - and of course is something I’ve had to deal with.

Many times the Realtor who has all those honors will be put on bigger projects to make their brokerage more $$ and the buyer or seller will get one of the rookies from that Brokerage.

If, however, you do succeed in getting the “hot shot” Realtor to work for you, you might find that you’re a little lower on their priority list.

It makes sense, right? If they have 4 buyers looking to buy million dollar homes and then here you come along and tell them you’re looking to spend $180k, who’s phone call are they going to take first? Who’s going to get priority?

If by chance you hook a “hot shot” Realtor, ask them what the median house price they usually find for buyers (or sell). If they tell you they sell a lot of homes significantly higher than what you’re looking for, you may have a problem.

The same logic holds true for Realtors doing primarily short sales. If you interview a Realtor and they tell you they primarily do short sales but would be happy to take you on, move on; their heart isn’t in it for you.

Many Realtors *go where the money is* and invest the bulk of their time there.

The first draft of this post talked about “buyer’s agents” and then I realized my post was getting way too long. I often want to tell people everything which isn’t always best. In this case, I decided to stick with the essentials of finding and working with a Realtor the way 95% of people do.

However, since you brought it up, yes we have buyer’s agents here in Vegas. In case people don’t know, a buyer’s agent is a Realtor buyers hire to find them a home. The idea is, the buyer’s agent will work in your best interest as a buyer and not be in conflict with you and the seller.

I have 2 problems with using buyer agents, though.

1. Many of them still represent both buyers and sellers - thus equaling a normal Realtor. I know this because one of my Realtors I interviewed asked me if they had a problem with this (because she was both). Lesson: you never really know.

2. The only way to insure the buyer’s agent is only working in your best interest is to pay them a fee. The problem is, many times this fee negates a great deal the buyer’s agent gets you on the house. It’s easier to just go with a normal Realtor.

The only way I can see you can truly trust that a Realtor is working to get you the best possible deal on a house is if the two of you have formed an investing business and the Realtor will make a profit from investing. Or maybe if they are a family member or really close friend.

Such an informative post.

As you know, I was a Realtor . My fiduciary duty was always to the seller (whether it was my listing or not), as they are the ones paying the commission. It’s a fine line Realtors walk, as most want to find a great home for their buyer, however, the seller is the one who is paying the commission.

One way of finding is good Realtor is to also look at the ads in the newspaper or telephone book. If a Realtor is listed in the top percentile, or advertises honors they’ve received, there is a valid reason for that. They’re probably good at what they do.

I don’t know if they have them where you live John, but we also have “buyer’s agents”. The buyer pays the Realtor to find a home. Most are advertised as such, and probably have some type of special license and contract.

Also, if someone is really not in a position to buy, it’s completely unethical to pretend they are, and waste a Realtor’s time.

And, in closing, a Realtor almost always is splitting the commission with others. In most cases, the selling Realtor is only seeing one fourth of the total commission. (It gets split between the listing and selling offices, and the listing and selling agents).

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