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You see a house online that you may be interested in. You pressed a button for more information. Now you’re in the system! When you press a button online on the big Realty sites you will always be directed to a Realtor. Most times it will not be the Realtor actually selling the property. This is a GOOD thing. You never EVER want to deal with the Realtor who is actually listing a property. Why? Because they are working for the seller! They cannot effectively negotiate price or repairs for you. It is legal in some states (Washington included) for a Realtor to represent both parties but it is rarely in the buyer’s best interest! The kicker to all of this is that it doesn’t make the house any less expensive either. Seller’s enter into a listing agreement with a brokerage’s firm which states what they will be paying towards the Real Estate commission. That is usually based on a percentage, such as 6% of the total sale price of the home. Half typically goes to the Realtor representing the seller and half to the Realtor representing the buyer. When a buyer doesn’t have their own Realtor, the listing Realtor simply makes that whole commission. It is always in the buyer’s best interest to have his own Realtor and the best part is that the seller is the one paying the commission! The exception to this are cut rate listing which can be read about in that blog post.
A good Realtor will steer you towards a lender who will work to get you the best rates and save you money overall. They should also be handling all of your questions about houses so there is no reason for a person with a Realtor to be pushing buttons trying to gather information. Have your Realtor do that work! All you’ll be accomplishing otherwise is getting into contact with another Realtor(or several) who want to help you with the home search. This is something your Realtor should have informed you of in the beginning of your relationship. My clients know to contact me if they have any questions on something they may see and I will be sending them potential listings when they become available. I receive frequent calls from people who have Realtors but didn’t want to “bother” them to gather information. Instead they are now bothering another Realtor who then has to educate them on how all of this works because their Realtor didn’t do so. If you aren’t getting prompt answers from your Realtor, get one that is truly looking after your best interests and communicates effectively with you!
