by Dan Stuenzi
January 18, 2010 12:18
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently released the "Shopping for Your Home Loan: HUD Settlement Cost Booklet 2010." While that's a pretty boring title, it's actually a very useful publication for home buyers, and I recommend it if you're in the market to buy a home. But within Section IV, page 6 on "Shopping for a House," it excited me to read these words:
It is your responsibility to search for an agent who will represent your interests in the real estate transaction.
If you want someone to represent only your interests, consider hiring an "exclusive buyer’s agent", who will be working for you.
Of course, I would fully agree. Our real estate company is different from all the others in Omaha - because we don't have listings and we never represent sellers. When I retired from the practice of law, and opened Omaha Buyer's Broker, I wanted to be a trusted advisor and counselor - not a salesman. Plus, I never wanted to be in a situation where I'd have to work as a "dual agent" (a contradiction in terms) or where I'd have a potential conflict of interest in promoting a house to my buyer that my company was being paid to sell for the seller! The only way I could see to avoid that, was to work exclusively with buyers. And that's what we do!
There is some confusion in the marketplace between a buyer's agent and an exclusive buyer's agent. An agent who works for a traditional real estate company may call himself or herself a buyer's agent because he or she works primarily with buyers. However an exclusive buyer's agent works ONLY for buyers, and works for a company that works only for buyers. That way, neither the agent nor the agent's company has any particular house to promote.
Instead, we're able to find out exactly what our clients want and need, and then search the multiple listing service, for-sale-by-owner homes, and new construction to find the perfect fit. Then we help determine the market value and work with our client to craft an offer, negotiate with the seller, and ensure that our clients are well-served by inspectors, title companies, and lenders.
For once in my life, I actually agree with a government bureaucracy - homebuyers should use an exclusive buyer agent when they buy a home!
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