You Must Understand This.....NOT ALL AGENTS ARE CREATED EQUAL

 In Wisconsin, there are essentially four types of agents. The first two are listing agents and subagents. As a buyer, you should be aware that these "traditional" agents have a legal obligation to loyally work toward getting the highest price and best possible terms for the sellers.

It used to be that these were the only types of agents with whom buyers could work. Fortunately, times have changed. Back around 1992, a third type of agent began emerging and has since then become accepted in many parts of the nation. This third type of agent is known as the buyer's agent. (In Wisconsin, in the absence of a written agreement between a buyer and a buyer's agent--not to be confused with our state-mandated agency disclosure form--buyers are either working with a listing agent or a subagent.)

  

The principal difference between the buyer's agent and all other agents is that a buyer's agent has a legal obligation to loyally work toward getting the buyer the lowest price at the best possible terms. Everything that the buyer's agent does, except in one particular--and frequently occurring--circumstance, must be performed with the intention of creating the maximum benefit possible for the buyer client.

This one exception occurs when the buyer's agent has requested, and been given, contractual permission by their buyer client, at the outset of the relationship, to transition into what is known as a dual agent--which also happens to be the fourth and final kind of agent recognized in Wisconsin.

Some of the benefits that accrue to buyers who use buyer agents, as opposed to buyers who are simply customers of traditional seller agents, appear in the paragraphs below. This list, though not all-inclusive, does illustrate many of the prime differences between exclusive buyer agents and all other types of agents in Wisconsin.

A. There is typically no additional cost for using a buyer agent over any other type of agent. The buyer agent is compensated through the transaction in the same fashion as any other cooperating broker who has brought a buyer to the property.

B. Using a buyer's agent may very well save you money. A study by U.S. Sprint (the long distance company) found that "232 relocating Sprint employees who hired buyer's brokers paid an average of 91 percent of a home's list price. People who used traditional agents typically paid about 96 percent. On a house originally priced at $150,000, that's a difference of $7,500." (Money Magazine, April 1993.)

C. Besides those properties that are listed on a Multiple Listing Service, buyer agents can seek out and represent their clients on For Sale By Owner, Bank-Owned, and any other type of property. An buyer agent can even contact every owner in a particular neighborhood that interests the buyer-client, to inquire whether or not the owner may be willing to allow the buyer-client to view the potential seller's unlisted home.

D. When viewing homes, one of the buyer agent's obligations is to go beyond mere disclosure of adverse factors relating to these homes and/or neighborhoods, to offering advice to the buyer on how these factors may impact upon future resale or relate to the buyer's current needs or desires.

E. An buyer’s agent will provide their buyer-client with a market value analysis, prior to that buyer making an offer on any particular home, so that the buyer will have their agent's professional, written opinion on the value of that home.

F. When drafting offers, counter-offers or engaging in other negotiations, the buyer’s agent is focused on loyally advancing the best interests of the buyer.

As consumers become more aware of the options that are available to them when it comes to real estate agents, it would not be surprising to see them seek out the best listing agent that they could find to represent them in the sale of their present home, while seeking out and utilizing the services of the best Buyer’s Agent they can find to help them secure their next home, thus protecting and hopefully increasing their household net worth by conserving/maximizing their equity.

The bottom line in all of this is that Wisconsin homebuyers have many more choices than they've ever had before, and that a choice for those seeking representation, is a Buyer's Agent.

The preceding information is an adaptation of an article that was written by Jay Reifert--Broker/Owner of Excel-Exclusive Buyer Agency--and was published in the February 16, 1998 edition of "The Madison Business Journal", Madison's first business weekly.

You owe it to yourself to do what is in your best interests--and only a Buyer's Agent can offer you the written, binding promise to do what's in your best interests while offering you access to the entire marketplace, listed and unlisted properties alike. Why settle for a traditional agent when you can have your own representation by using a buyer's agent.

 

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