Should you have a Buyer's Agent when buying a home? - By Matthew Trudel

Should you have a realtor working for you as a Buyer’s Agent when buying a home for sale? 
 

I won't give you the answer, but I will give you something very simple to think about. 

Who pays the commission to the realtors involved in a transaction? The seller right? 

Not if you ask me, because when everyone shows up at the closing, the buyer is the only one who brings money to the table. After all the paper work is signed, the seller and the realtor(s) walk out with checks. The seller may set up some of the terms under which the realtor gets paid, but the buyer is the one who pays everyone. 

So if you buy a house and don't have a realtor and the seller does have a realtor, then you are paying that realtor to work against you and represent the seller’s best interests not your best interests. It is almost like going to court against someone and hiring a lawyer for the opposing party and not hiring a lawyer for yourself, and the amount involved in the law suit is $250,000 (or whatever the house is worth). 

Still not convinced, then think about this: 

You buy a house for $200,000 and don't use a realtor but the seller had a realtor and that realtor got paid a commission of 5 percent or $10,000 and the seller got $190,000. If you had just walked up to the seller the day he first thought of selling his home and offered him $190,000 he most likely would have sold you the property because that is all he got in the above transaction. So you paid $10,000 more to cover the realtor who represented the seller when you could have had someone representing you and helping you through the whole process and the realtors would have split the $10,000. 

Want to know how you can possibly get part of that money ($10,000) back, talk to a realtor and talk about how to work together to find you a home that meets all your needs and expectations.