Is a buyer's agent worth it? Five reasons to use a buyer's agent A buyer's…
Buyer's agent v vendor's agent: What's the difference?
In this article we look at what the difference is between these two types of real estate professionals and explain why a buyer’s agent may be someone you would want on your team.
What's a vendor's agent?
Most people are already familiar with real estate vendors or sellers agents. If you’ve ever visited an open home or made inquiry about a property for sale you were probably dealing with a vendors agents or one of their associates. Vendors agents work for the vendor of the property. Their objective is to get the highest price and the most favourable terms for the vendor. Typically vendor agents fee structure is a percentage of the sale price of the property, so not only are they contractually obligated to operate in the interest of the vendor but they are also financially incentivised to do so.
What does this mean for you, the buyer?
We’ve all experienced pushy sales people before, granted not all vendors agents would fall into this category but there’s definitely no shortage of pushy or shady real estate agents. Vendors agents don’t have to take in consideration the circumstances of the buyers and are often been known to take advantage of inexperienced or uninformed buyers. Very rarely do they disclose the downsides of any property you may be interested in purchasing. Everything they tell you about a property must be taken with a grain of salt. Furthermore it’s common practice for them use their sales tactics on you in order to induce you to feel a sense of scarcity and desperation leading you to act hastily potentially making costly mistakes.
One such trick that is commonly deployed is that the agent will advise you that the property your interested in and wanting to make an offer on is also on the scope on “another buyer” (the buyer does not exist) who is equally as keen as you are. The agent advises you that the offer made by the other party is higher than yours and leading you to increase your offer, perhaps over your budget
What's a buyer's agent?
Unlike sellers agents who work for the vendor, buyers agents or buyers advocates work for the buyer. They help people to find a property that meets their needs and in their price range, deal directly with vendors agents to make an offer and handle the negotiation all on your behalf. Once both parties have come to a mutual agreement and contracts have been exchanged a buyers agent can assist with the necessary processes right up until settlement.
