I'm in Va, preparing for the exam, and I've been reading Gary Keller, Darryl Davis, Kenneth Edwards and waiting on Amazon to ship Sell With Soul. So, I've been wondering lately about the advantages/ disadvantages to being a buyer's agent rather than a listing agent. I've been looking at both the REBAC and NAEBA websites and the idea kinda appeals to me. I'm an African-American male, and one of the reasons that I want to get into real estate is because I want to help people get into their first home. I really and truly enjoy the idea of helping people become homeowners. So......what I'm trying to ask is what the disadvantages might be to choosing a career as a buyer's agent. Financially, would my income be limited by the fact that I'm not listing? What advantages are there? I'd love input from any and all, and would love the opinions of any buyer's agents out there. Thank you, I know I've been kinda long-winded, so forgive me

I'm curious about this topic as well. As an aspiring agent, being a "Buyer's Agent" seems to be a decent way to get your feet wet (learning the contract process, managing client/your schedule, etc.), assuming you can find some prospective buyers.

Most agents get their feet wet working with buyers. Either friends and family contacts, or leads from "floor time". Ironic, but you will find that the more listings taken, the more buyers will flock to you. Good luck!

Not a bad way to get your feet wet. You get leads, direction, less marketing costs.

Your income would be limited in that you pay a cut not only to the Brokerage, but then to your team owner. It could be a good thing or a bad thing. If you are good, its a bad thing, if you are not so good as an agent its a good thing.

The deal you cut though is negotiable between you and the team.

From what I've gathered, you can only handle so many buyers at once without going completely insane. When you have an inventory, you could be selling a home while you're out with a buyer.

Is it possible to be a buyer's agent your entire career and still be successful? What options does a buyer's agent have, so to speak?

Maybe; but I haven't thought of how you'd do that yet. Buyers call you because you have something they want; they don't call because they like you.

Once they make contact with you, you can sell them on the services you offer and the trust they can have in you.

I don't ever have very many Listings; but I try to have a broad spectrum of offerings like:

One cheap Mobile Home;

One Newish Mobile Home;

One Lake Front Cottage;

One Duplex in a Village setting;

One House up the side of a Mountain with "Views";

One 4 Unit Apartment House;

One Retail Store, or a Gas Station - a Business of some kind;

One New house on a Big Parcel;

One Old Dairy Farm out in the Boonies;

One Cottage out in the Woods;

One Showie Horse Farm with high visibility;

One Big Log Cabin with a 2 Car Garage with a giant Stone Fireplace;

One Fix-R-Upper;

Some Maple Woods with a Sugar Shack;

A Christmas Tree Plantation;

A Chunk of Forest land with Marketable Timber;

Etc, Etc.

I try to have a little bit of everything, so that sooner or later, I will advertise something that a Buyer will take an interest in. They call me on what I have For Sale . . . . and then I sell tham something else that is in the MLS. I look at the MLS as a tool for Wholesale. I agree to Wholesale when I put my Listings in the MLS. I retail other peoples MLS Listings which they put into the MLS.

Also, I try not to ever advertise where two of my listings appear to be competing with one another. So I woulnd NEVER allow two Split Entry Ranches to appear in the same ad. It keeps the Sellers happy because they're not being compared with something just inches away from them; and it avoids confusion in the minds of the Buyers.

When Buyers call me, that opens the door to tell them about everything else that's on the market of a similar nature. They may become a Buyer Client. But I may not like them, or they may not like me. We never know until we have that first encounter.

So, in my market, and with my simple plan, Listings serve as the "Vehicle" by which you meet Buyers. They are the Bait that causes Buyers to come to you. Listings are the Bait that you go fishing with.

I have had many Listings which were real dogs; but they were good bait for my fishing. Sometimes Listings expire with little or no activity on them . . . . and the Seller talks about me having failed. Then I sometimes correct them by letting it be known that:

"Yes, that's true, I didn't sell your property; yours was over-priced; but I sold 6 or 8 others because of yours. So thank you very much. It was a good place to have a sign!"

See, my format wouldn't work without at least some some Listings.

"You need bait to catch Fish" And you need different kinds of Bait. I don't know if there a way to fish without Bait; but I would try it.

[quote=REODayton]

[b]Your income would be limited in that you pay a cut not only to the Brokerage, but then to your team owner.[/b] It could be a good thing or a bad thing. If you are good, its a bad thing, if you are not so good as an agent its a good thing.

The deal you cut though is negotiable between you and the team. [/quote]

What do you mean by that? Am I right to assume that you're saying the new agent will likely get the buyer from a co-worker at the brokerage, who has a listing and generating buyers from that? Therefore, the new agent will be splitting commission with broker and giving a referral fee?

I was kinda curious about that as well. Would you HAVE to be part of a team? I wouldn't see where that would necessarily be the casse, but of course, I could be wrong.

To the OP, what is your plan as far as generating leads? Some brokerages have a system to hand out leads (assuming they have some coming in). Would that generate enough to keep you busy? Some teams have 'buyers agents' to handle leads as that can be very time consuming.

LOL....well, to be honest, I really hadn't decided as of yet. That being said, I'm sure that I'm going to be doing my own prospecting as opposed to solely relying on leads that the brokerage/ team provided or generated

priest2705,

I am not an agent yet, but when I become one I too want to help people get into their first homes. I want to share this with you:

Years ago when I was in my early 20’s I called a phone number on a “for sale” sign to ask how much the house was listed for. The agent asked me some questions but I finally admitted that I was just curious and not ready to buy. He did not get mad. We ended up talking about other things. After that he would call once every few months. We would talk about things that had nothing to do with real estate but the conversation was always pleasant. When someone I know wants to list or to buy, I’ll ask them if it’s okay that I give him (the agent) their number. They say yes and then instead of them placing a call, he calls them and voila. I have never actually met this agent in person.

A few years before that when I was 19 years old I called up an agent at random from the yellow pages. I asked what was needed to buy a house. My biggest dream ever was to have a pretty little house. Anyway, this agent asked if I had any money. I lied to him and said I did. He asked how much. I said that between my husband and I (another lie--I was not even married) we had 20K. He did not believe me—could be because I’m a bad lier or because I’ve always sounded younger than what I am. He said that without money you can’t buy a house. True. BUT people’s financial situation does change. Our income increases, we inherit, we get married, whatever. Will I ever call him again? NO. He did not even say his name.

My point: Yes--a sign gets people to call you. But you as an agent who wants to get people into their first home should never kill anyone’s biggest dream by telling them they can’t. Instead why not tell them about first-time home buyers programs or, with their permission, email them fun facts and tips on how to save, etc. And, when you do get your first-time home buyers who are financially ready to buy, be sensitive and don’t overwhelm them with real estate terms that they might not be familiar with. Also, explain the home buying process and the amount of paper work that might be involved. Tell them that it’s natural for first-timers (or anyone else) to feel overwhelmed with the process. It's true, people call you because you have something they want but if they feel comfortable with you, I think that they will want YOU to represent their friends and family when they too are ready to sell or buy.

yes you can focus on buyers but a buyer only agent is as rare as Bigfoot. what do you think they do, sell their buyer a house and then say don't call me in the future unless you plan on buying? Or you want to buy a home but you need to sell your home first, OK just call me when your house is sold.

I can't tell you how many exclusive buyer agents I've met that have to cross to the dark side no matter how loudly they say they don't. A good client is a good client whether buying or selling, both of which they will be doing over their lifetime.

It's not like a fork in the road where you must chose one path to the exclusion of the other. If helping people find their first home is what really excites you, as it appears to be, then starting out as a buyer's agent might be the way to go.

BUT KNOW THIS: Being a buyer's agent is not a 'career' in the same sense as being a listing agent is. There's an expression, "List to last". That's because having listings is analogous to being the supplier. Whereas chasing the supply is more like being the consumer, or at least one step removed. Of course, no analogy is perfect and so it ultimately breaks down if you scrutinize it too much. A simpler way of saying it is: Get listings, and the market comes to you.

mWoods makes some great points here.

As far as time management, it is much better to be a Lister than a buyer. On average, the hours it take to list a home and get it sold are way lower than the hours spent working with buyers.

Also, you can never really double or triple end a buyer, which is something that can happen as a Lister.

If you are going to work on a team as a buyer agent only, then get your expectations down on paper with the team leader. What you expect of them, leads, hours, splits, how many open houses per month etc. Then what they expect of you, how many hours worked, attending meetings, training sessions, bringing leads to the team etc. Get this figured out early and you could do well under a team.

The top agents in my office tend to work more on the Listing side, I would say around 70/30. They control their time well. The double end their products as much as they can (very profitable).

All the best.