Why Search for a Real Estate Agent, Anyway?

Real Estate Buyers Tip 7...

Finding Your Real Estate Agent by "Accident":

When someone decides it is time to sell their home, they interview several Real Estate Agents from different companies to determine which one is best for them. They want someone who will represent them and someone they feel will do an effective job at marketing their home. However, when someone decides to buy a home, they usually end up with their Real Estate Agent through sheer accident. Why don’t homebuyers search for a Real Estate Agent the same way that home sellers do?

Instead, home buyers usually end up with a Real Estate Agent as a result of answering an advertisement. The advertisement will give a brief summary of a home available for sale along with the price, but it says nothing at all about the Real Estate Agent . The ad also does not say whether the property backs to a busy street or if the "ocean view" is available only by leaning out of the second story window with a pair of binoculars.

Listing Agents versus Selling Agents

You see, there are listing agents and selling agents. Listing agents are the ones who "list" a home for sale, and they deal primarily with sellers. Selling agents or "buyer’s" agents do not usually list very many homes for sale. They deal mostly with home buyers. Buyer’s agents sell the homes that are placed on the market by the listing agents.

Many agents concentrate primarily on one side or the other. This is not a "hard and fast" rule. There are also agents who split their time equally between buyers and sellers. Often, these are the very best Real Estate Agents.

If you call on an advertisement in a newspaper or one of those home selling magazines, you are most likely calling the listing agent. Listing agents place ads for several reasons. First, they need to show the seller that they are doing something to sell their home. Second, by showing how much they advertise, they can also attract other individuals who are thinking of selling their homes. They point to their ads as an example of what they will do to market the house.

Why Agents Advertise — Is it What You Think?

Did you know that the primary reason many Agents have large display advertising in newspapers and magazines is to promote themselves rather than promote the property. That's why you see all those photos of salespeople together with the advertisement, often multiple times on the same page.  And did you know that the advertisements have been paid for by the sellers.  They also advertise homes in newspapers and magazines to convince their clients that they are aggressively marketing the property.  When home sellers constantly see ads from a particular Real Estate Agent, the agent is hoping that this will sway those home sellers to want to list with that Real Estate Agent. So even though the ads look like they are directed toward home buyers, they often have another purpose. To attract home sellers.

Agents do still advertise homes for sale in order to attract buyers. However, they don't really expect you to actually purchase the home you originally call on. They would be happy if you do, but it happens so rarely that they do not expect it.

When you call on a real estate ad, you often schedule an appointment to go look at the advertised home. While you are out looking at that home, you will probably want to look at a few others, too. Eventually, you and the Real Estate Agent will zero in on what you need and like in the proper price range and you will make an offer.

That is one way of finding your Real Estate Agent by accident.

Next:  Tip 8... Determining Offer Price