What Does a Real Estate Agent Do For Home Buyers?
What does a real estate agent do for a buyer? You may have asked this question as you contemplate your first home purchase.
A real estate agent can be invaluable when trying to buy a home. Each agent is different, so each may take a slightly different approach to the home-buying process.
However, there are certain things that every real estate agent should do for you as a buyer.
I have discussed what to expect from a real estate agent when selling a home. You should have similar expectations as a buyer on what your Realtor will do for you!
Use the following list to weed out the agents you don’t want to work with. These are nine critical things a real estate agent should be doing for home buyers. If you find a potential agent that says they won’t do the things on this list, keep looking.
When you find a quality agent, they will be more than happy to take care of these things.
An exceptional buyer’s agent will be your advocate and fiduciary throughout a real estate transaction.
The benefits of having a buyer’s agent cannot be understated. The best agents will be in your corner, fighting for your interests.
Buying a home without a real estate agent can be a significant mistake.
If you have not formally met with a real estate agent, you may want to decide what to do before buying a home. The advice will put you on the right track to home-buying success!
What does a real estate agent do? The best buyer’s agents will do these nine things for you when purchasing a home, no questions asked.
1. Help You Get Pre-approved For a Mortgage.
Understanding how to get a mortgage is crucial to your success.
A good Realtor has a sizable network of trusted agents, lenders, and other home-buying and selling professionals.
Your agent should be able to connect you with a trusted mortgage lender who will take you through the pre-approval process so you can get to shopping for your home.
You want to be pre-approved so you know how much you can spend. If you aren’t already – talk to your real estate agent about getting it done.
One thing to remember is the differences between being pre-approved and pre-qualified. These two mortgage terms are night and day in their meaning.
You want to be pre-approved, which means the lender has verified your income and employment and ran your credit. A prequalification letter, in most circumstances, does none of these things. Frankly, it is not worth the paper it is written on.
An exceptional seller’s agent will insist on a solid pre-approval letter, so ensure you get one!
2. Help Find a Home – Including Counseling on Location, Neighborhood, Schools, etc.
House hunting is a tiring process at the best of times, requiring you to make concessions so that your dreams can match the reality of what is available and what you can afford.
One of your Realtor’s key jobs is to help you clarify what you want most and find options that meet your specifications as much as possible. The best real estate agents will counsel you on location, neighborhood, schools, and other factors.
Your agent should help you determine the best locations for you to look at based on your goal, including the type of neighborhood you want, school systems you want to be part of, etc.
Those buyers who look at a real estate agent as a glorified taxi cab driver are missing out on all the benefits a good buyer’s agent should provide. If driving you from house to house is all your real estate agent does, you might want to look for someone else!
A good listener is an essential trait of an excellent buyer’s agent. You don’t want to get stuck with an agent like the one in this video.
Interviewing a buyer’s agent could be a smart move to ensure you don’t get stuck with a lemon. Anyone can show houses. A skilled buyer’s agent goes far beyond carting you around in their car.
3. Negotiate an Offer.
One of the biggest perks of having a great buyer’s agent is their ability to negotiate the best price for your home purchase.
The best negotiators know the value of what they are attempting to buy or sell, making a respected Realtor so valuable.
Exceptional buyer’s agents will analyze the value of the home you want to purchase. They will look at comps or comparable sales to determine the property’s value.
Many agents will provide a comparative market analysis (CMA) to show you how they arrived at their advice.
They should advise you on your initial offer and how to proceed when the seller responds.
They should know how to negotiate effectively to get you the best possible price on the home of your dreams. Ultimately, you are accountable to the market, but that doesn’t mean a good negotiator can’t tip the scales in your favor.
The agent should have in-depth knowledge of the factors that affect the value of a home. After all, this will be the basis for what you will pay for the house.
4. Help With Picking a Home Inspector.
Just like real estate agents, some inspectors are better than others. Your Realtor should know the best home inspectors in the area and help you choose the one you can depend on to give you the low down on the actual state of any home you are interested in buying.
Don’t have a buyer’s agent yet? Here is an excellent guide on how to pick a home inspector. Use this advice to make the best choice possible.
Your Realtor can advise you on any additional inspections that may apply to the home you are looking at, including radon, mold, water, lead paint, etc.
These are all potential stumbling blocks that could cause issues in your sale. They are important enough, however, that you will want to be sure there are no problems. Having a good house inspection checklist will help you cover all the bases.
5. Attend The Home Inspection.
Even the best home inspectors can miss things, and even the most knowledgeable inspectors can fail to accurately convey the information they find to you as a buyer.
Your buyer’s agent should be at the home inspection to hear precisely what the inspector finds.
When the home inspection is over and you are given the report from the inspector, an excellent agent will counsel you on what should be brought to the seller’s attention.
It is tough to understand and negotiate the issues if your agent is not in attendance. Make sure you find out if your agent will be at the inspection.
If they say it is not their “policy” to go, insist they be there. Unfortunately, in this business, many lazy agents will try to get away with doing as little as possible.
Over my career, I have often represented Metrowest home sellers where the buyer’s agent is not in attendance. It blows me away – especially when it comes time to negotiate and the agent doesn’t know the issues!
6. Negotiate Any Home Inspection Repair Requests.
The information you get from the home inspection can provide you with leverage in negotiations. You can request repairs based on the data from the home inspection, and you can sometimes get price or other seller concessions based on the problems found in the inspection.
Your Realtor is best qualified to negotiate for these things because they are most knowledgeable about how each issue affects the home’s value.
The agent will again be your “negotiator” to ensure the seller deals with any serious problems. This could be a price reduction, a repair, or a credit at closing.
One of the roles of a buyer’s agent is to let you know when you ask for unreasonable home inspection requests. There is always a give and take when it comes to home inspections.
Buyers need to remember the purpose of a home inspection is not to make a perfect home. Nearly every home has issues, large and small.
Skilled buyer’s agents will direct you on what to keep your focus on and what to let go of.
Your Realtor can also verify that the home has no permitting issues. Sometimes, homeowners change the house without getting the proper permits, which can present significant problems to you as a buyer.
You want to know about any of these hurdles before you buy.
7. Communicate With The Seller’s Agent and Buyer’s Attorney Throughout The Sale.
Everyone must be on the same page for a home purchase to go smoothly. Your real estate agent will inform everyone, including the seller’s agent and your real estate attorney.
The agent is best qualified for this duty because they know how to measure the importance of information and know who needs what and when to keep the ball rolling.
Some real estate agents are lousy communicators. There can be many reasons for this, from being a part-time agent to not realizing how important it is to people. Whatever the reason, some agents “just don’t get it”!
8. Monitor Your Loan Commitment.
Excellent buyer’s agents always stay on top, monitoring the buyer’s mortgage commitment.
Intelligent agents also ensure buyers understand they must maintain their current credit status. Mortgage mistakes can be pretty common, especially among first-time home buyers.
The pre-approval you got for your home purchase is fragile, based on the information given to the lender at the time of the pre-approval request.
Any changes to your financial situation could make it impossible to get or reduce the loan amount available.
Your real estate agent should monitor your loan status and advise you on how to protect your approval.
They will ensure you understand not to make any large purchases or take out any loans, like buying a car, before you close on the home.
Making bad spending decisions could cause the lender to cancel the mortgage.
9. Finalize All Loose Ends For The Closing.
You only need to make it through the closing to get your home finally. But a surprising number of details are involved in a closing, all of which must be wrapped up before you officially become the homeowner.
Failing to take care of everything could cause the closing to fall through.
Your agent will finalize all the loose ends so that the closing goes through without a hitch and will be there alongside you at the finish so you have support and advice should you need it.
Final Thoughts on What a Real Estate Agent Does For Buyers
As a buyer, you should have high expectations from your buyer’s agent. You are making a huge purchase that could be your life’s most significant.
There are many types of agency in real estate. You want a buyer’s agent and nothing else when you’re buying!
Ensure you hire an agent you like enough to consider a friend when all is said and done. Conversely, ensure you are a buyer a real estate agent enjoys working with.
A great relationship is a give-and-take! Don’t make any of the mistakes real estate agents hate about buyers; you will be on the right track!
Additional Useful Home-Buying Articles
- Why having a buyer agency agreement benefits buyers and real estate agents.
- An excellent guide to understanding credit scores when buying a home via Kevin Vitali.
Use these additional helpful real estate resources to make sound decisions when purchasing a home.
About the Author: The above Real Estate information on what a real estate agent does for a buyer was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill has expertise in mortgages, financing, moving, home improvement, and general real estate.
Learn more about Bill Gassett and the publications he has been featured in. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-625-0191. Bill has helped people move in and out of Metrowest towns for the last 37+ years.
Are you thinking of selling your home? I am passionate about real estate and love sharing my marketing expertise!
I service Real Estate Sales in the following Metrowest MA towns: Ashland, Bellingham, Douglas, Framingham, Franklin, Grafton, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hopedale, Medway, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, Natick, Northborough, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Sutton, Wayland, Westborough, Whitinsville, Worcester, Upton, and Uxbridge MA.
Very helpful, Thank You.