What are your thoughts on being a Buyers Agent? What are the pros and cons (in your opinion) of working solely as a B.A for a team of agents? Given that they're established and I'm not....Thanks in advance....

Acting as a buyer’s agent is a growing trend, but unfortunately it has not been adequately supported by the real estate industry that appears to be content to continue in the traditional mode of everyone works for the seller.

The truth of the matter is that one has to separate fact from fiction and recognize that Seller’s agent and Buyer’s agent are clearly in an adversarial role, as the parties they represent have opposing interest.

Buyer’s agents are subject to a great deal of liability and must fulfill all the legal and fiduciary requirement of their role in the same manner that a lawyer is required to fulfill his or her fiduciary obligations to a client.

Buyer’s agent should be knowledgeable of all the elements of agency law in addition to the laws governing their profession, further, all agents should first learn how to properly open a client file, check for conflicts, complete an Intake form with all the clients personal data ,set-up a client To-Do List, with a diary date for completion ,set-up a File To-Do List ,on what is to be done, by who, and when it was done, set-up a File Chronology in which all events and conversation are documented.

You should know that the standard form Agreement of Purchase and Sale is weighted in favour of the Seller and as a Buyer’s agent you are legally bound to amend, omit and insert clauses (in the 1st draft) in order to clearly illustrate that you are acting in the best interest of your client (unless you have express client instructions to the contrary). The Seller may reject certain changes, as may be expected, but then the negotiation process begins.

Most Agreement of Purchase and Sale that I have reviewed, that were drafted by a “Buyer’s Agent” still favoured the Seller, without any creditable explanation, and if they did have an explanation, it was strictly verbal and unsupported as the Buyer’s agent had no creditable and/or admissible evidence indicating that they fulfilled their fiduciary obligations to their client, or that they utilizing their “best efforts” and exercising their “due diligence”, etc.

The aforemention file opening process, if done on a proven consistent basis, lends credibility to an agents testimony in the eyes of the court.

This is just a brief synopsis

Important Notice: This information is provided as basic educational information by the author and is not a substitute for the advice of an expert and/or the advice of a lawyer. There is NO representation as to legality, accuracy, correctness of the herein information and the reader is strongly urged to consult a lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction to ensure accuracy before acting on this information .

If we're talking Canada (or at least Ontario) -- and by the heading of this forum we are -- every offer has to be accompanied by a completed Confirmation of Co-operation and Representation form (OREA form #220). This has to be signed by both agents, as well as the Seller and Buyer, and places on record who's looking after who and how the Buyer's Agent will get paid (usually by a share of commission as stipulated in the MLS listing).
As a Buyer Agent, you do need to realize that your primary responsibility is to take care of your buyer client's best interests.
This means two essential things.
On the one hand, you shouldn't focus on selling the property for as close to the asking price as you can. Rather you should make sure that the offer price properly reflects the market value, particularly by setting it against an appropriate Comparative Market Analysis.
On the other hand, you should help your buyer client to determine that the property represents the best value for their money. This means that you need to demonstrate that each one of the comparables isn't going to be a better buy.
If you will, your job is to get the Buyer "the most house for the money" as opposed to enabling the Seller to get "the most money for the house." The difference is a critical one and you have a legal duty and obligation to apply it in your dealings with your buyer clients.

Duncan

Working as a buyers agent can be a great way to start a career. If you've already been through your phase 1-3 you probably realize that they don't give you much of an idea of what you actually do to in the day to day when you get out there.

Are you going to work as a buyers agent in a team for 20 years... probably not. It does however give you a chance to 'learn the ropes' from a more experienced agent, get the feel for the business and its ups and downs as well as provide steady leads, which is often something new agents do not have.