I have a question for choosing buyer's agent .

I found a very successful agent locally . Top 5 .
But he told me he won't show me arround to see the house and ask his partner to show me the house . He just said he will make the offer and negociate the offer . Is it a good choice ?

Or I need to find an agent with 5, 6 years experience and willing to go with me to see each house in person ?

Any comments will be greatly appreciated .

Goal: You want an experienced, qualified agent to assist you and represent you in the purchase of a home.

Problem: You are like every other unqualified buyer. Basically an unknown quantity with unknown credit and unknown true intentions. So an experienced agent will not be psyched to get you as a client. Yet...

Solution: Walk into an agency on a weekday at 11AM. Ask to see the manager. Tell him/her that you want professional representation, that you have a 700 FICO score and $100,000 to put down. And most importantly, that you want to work with an agent who has been continuously licensed since 2001, and you want proof of the experience.

Result: An experienced agent will be happy to serve you, show you the houses personally, and manage your transaction from start to finish.

Caveat: If you have a 580 FICO and no money to put down, you will be working with a rookie.

Well . I know . There is not problem with my downpayment and credit score . the qestion is
whether to choose an agent having no time to show me arround and have very good expeirence negociation the offer or an ordinary agent with more willingness to do those job in person .

Thanks for any further kind replies .

Well it sounds to me like you need to decide what you would rather have. Do you want an agent that will take you to everyhouse and most likely try very hard to negociate very well on your behalf, but might not have the best experience at doing so? Or do you want an agent that will do all the negocitaing for you, but will want you to find the home yourself? This is not something that we can decide for you. There are some agents out there that are willing to do what you want, but most have not been in the business very long.

Good luck in deciding. I hope all goes well for you!!

Amanda

Seeing the house is not where the agent experience comes in,the agent i sprobabaly very busy and can't be everywhere at once.Buyers want to call up and immediately see a property and it doesn't work that way.

Usually i am with a client that made an appointment days ago and i also do buyer tours.
I usually tell the buyer to go look at the properties here is the owners or agents number.

If you want to go look at it a second time then i will go with you to see it.Negotiating the contract is where the experienced agent comes in geting you the best price and terms anyone can show you around town.

If it were me i would go with the agent who can negotiate the best contract in your favor,if you have marginal credit don't expect the moon.

......"and you want proof of the experience."

So does that mean just a copy of the agents license or does that mean proof of production.
I would provide that to a seller, but If some shmuck buyer walked in off the street with those demands, I would find that very amusing.

Fatcat-

Why don't you ask your friends and associates for a referral? If an associate has had a positive experience with an agent, talk to that agent. Third parties are more likely to give you a correct assessment of an agent.

I also agree with MDHomes. Productive agents are usually fairly busy. If you really want the top of the crop, and you have a bunch of demands, you may be passed off to a less experienced agent.

BTW- I was more professional on my first day in this industry than half the "experienced" agents. Experience doesn't always mean professionalism.

There is a guy that used to be in my old office who has been licensed for 5+ years. In that time, he has logged a whopping TWO transactions (he is a trust fund kid).

Competence and the ability to communicate (especially with you) are the main characteristics you need to be looking for.

Thanks . But in order to make better decision and I thought agent should have the front-line information of a particular house . If agent ask somebody else to see the house with me . the agent who neogociate offer will not know clearly the real situation of a house. How can he neogociate price to the best?
I mean , there maybe some items in the house decrease the value ....
ARe you guys familar with such model ? any agent focos on neogociation while his partner focoss on showing the house ??

Thanks

Find an experienced agent who conducts himself/herself with professionalism and class. Don't expect him/her to be your taxi/tour guide to look at every house that "might" be what you're looking for. Let him know that you respect his time and will only ask to see listings that you are absolutely certain are in a neighborhood you like and meets all your requirements for rooms, square footage, lot size, etc. If you do this, you shouldn't have a problem getting an experienced and knowledgeable agent to work hard on your behalf.

Absolutely. There are negotiating points that can only be fully known by inspecting the house and the area. You want an agent who will SHOW AND NEGOTIATE. Are you hearing this? Let me shout it for those in the audience who are hearing-impaired. ONE AGENT. SHOW. NEGOTIATE. MANAGE. CLOSE. ONE SINGLE PERSON. They are not that hard to find, I already told you how.

Agents who want to send you out looking and just step in for the "negotiating", which means filling out the contract and collecting the commission, are NOT in your best interest. A good agent who realizes you are serious and have the credit and down payment to back it up will be happy to handle everything: showing, local neighborhood research to make sure your offer is fair, negotiating the price and terms, managing the transaction, appraisal, home inspection, and whatever else comes up.

Go into Century 21 (or other major firm), ask for the manager/owner, show your cards, demand a full-time agent with 5 years of experience and references, verify the references and experience, and away you go.

It couldn't be simpler. Just follow my damn instructions and you will get what you need and want.

Is it lunch time yet?

I think it is a good idea to have the same agent show you the house and write a contract. However, I can see the other side. My concern would be the level of communication between the two agents. Personally, I think the 2 agent scenario is kind of hokey.

At least in my neck of the woods, calculations aren't made on the average house concerning depreciation on the oven, furnace, etc. It comes into play more when an item is blatantly worthless. If this is the situation, concessions are requested when the offer is written.

As for the major systems, you should be hiring an inspector after you've made an offer (or whatever protocol allows in your area). If there are concerns about the functionality of appliances, systems, etc., the inspector can confirm this for you. At that point, you can ask for additional concessions to cover the repair/replacement of the defective item.

If you demand quality you as a buyer will have to give quality.If you get 100 percent of my time you will be pre-approved and not pre-qualified.There is a saying in this business BUYERS are LIARS.It doesn't mean buyers are bad people they usually don't tell the whole story of what's going on in there situation which causes major problems later.It's beeter to get all of the cards on the table up front(even if they are bad) then not knowing and have a problem come up that could potentially derail the whole deal.

It's the old cat and mouse game,a buyer calls hello can you take me out to see blah,blah,blah at 6:00p.m. sure how much is the home you are looking at?Ok,how did you arrive at that price range?Have you been pre-approved,the classic answer is oh yeah i talked to this mortgage guy and he said i was pre-qualified,i say great can i have his name and number to get a copy of the letter so we can have it for our files going forward.This is when they say here is the person call them,or i called the person but now don't remember who it was or they spill there beans and say they haven't gotten qualified yet.


Even people that hink they have good credit you are leaving money on the table!Did you know over 90 percent of credit reports have an error on there legitimate or not that affects your score?
What if there was an error on there that was costing you a 1/2 percent higher mortgage loan that cost you thousands more over the life of the loan.Why would you give away your hard earned money when you don't have to?

Alot fo top producers are listing a ton of properties and have dedicated buyers agents on there team to help you and then they will review your contract,they simply don't have the time to do everything themselves.

I know of desperate agents that will go to see the same house with you 3 times without an eba agrrement signed but they can't negotiate worth a lick.

My advice

Get the credit taken care of first,get pre-approved,pre-qualified means nothing might as well burn the paper in the fireplace and use as heat.

Buyers CRITICAL mistake is looking at a price range of homes.

FIRST you need to determine your credit score and if any errors exist on it,then file an investigation with the agencies to have them removed,you can also do a rapid rescore with your lender that wil get it done in 3 to 4 days instead 1 to 2 months to update.The once your credit is optimal and you know your score the lender can give you an interest rate you qualify for and once that happens can give you an approximate monthly payment you will have to make and then that will determine what price range you go look in.

Most buyer do it backwards example a buyer with a 780 score i closed recently got a 150,000 dollar house with hoa fees for a little over 900 a month,another buyer in the same range with a 600 to 620 score that i closed is paying 1150 to 1200 a month for the same house because of the lower score they are seen as a higher risk by lenders..Get credit score,fix score,get int. rate,and then choose payment you are comfortable with and qualify for to the determine price range of the home.


good luck

I think one of the most important things to look for in a buyer's agent is how well they know the area that you are planning to buy your house in. It is in-depth knowledge of the homes that have recently sold (comparables), are currently on the market (actives), and the area (is there a zoning change pending? a Walmart about to be built next door?) that brings the real value to you as a buyer.

Skill in making the offer and negotiating are important, but even a newbie with a good mentor can do that. You first need an agent who knows the area, before you can determine whether a property is overpriced and by how much, so you negotiate the right offer.

Look at the recent transactions of the agent. How many were in your market area? Listen to what the agent says is their area of expertise and then see if the facts back it up.

I agree with navarac, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to find one agent who can see you through the entire transaction if you are already pre-approved for a mortgage, ready to buy now, and have good credit.

You may also want to look for an Exclusive Buyer's Agent. Exclusive means that they never work for sellers so you'll never be put in a dual or split agency situation.

A good buyer's agent will work with you to help you get pre-qualified (if you're not) and explain the process to you. I agree that when negotiating for you the agent needs to have some idea of what possible issues the house may have so they can get you the best price.

Some of the top producing agents may not be top producing buyer's agents, but list agents. When interviewing agents, ask questions like how much experience, how many buyers have they represented, what are they going to do to save you money in this important transaction...

Of course I'm biased, I work at an exclusive buyer's brokerage...

-doug