I've heard of buyer's agents but what are they?
- Posted By Nikki Montaser
A buyer's agent is a licensed real estate professional who specialise in searching, negotiating and purchasing property. They represent the buyers interests in a property transaction.
On the other side of the transaction, the selling agent has the legal and ethical responsibility to achieve the highest possible price and best terms for their clients, the vendors. A selling agent cannot impartially represent a buyer regardless of any rhetoric that you may hear.
Buyer's agents represent all types of property purchasers and can assist with the purchase of both residential and commercial properties. Buyer's agents (also known as buyer’s advocates) have been around since around the late 1990’s. Since then buyer's agents have grown considerably in popularity throughout the capital cities and major regional areas.
By using a buyer’s agent, you will gain a number of benefits:
- a full property search service will save you time and stress
- a buyer’s agent’s negotiation skills and knowledge can save significant amounts off a property’s asking price and/or a your purchasing budget
- you will gain access to all listed and unlisted properties on the market
- you won’t have to deal with selling agents directly and be confronted with the high pressure sales talk
- buyer’s agent’s have online databases of all comparable recent sales to help establish a property’s real worth and ensure you don’t pay too much, which is particularly important in the current market
- you will have professional representation to counter the skills of the selling agent
- you will have confidentiality, particularly if you have made offers which have been rejected on a property and want to remain anonymous to the selling agent. This is also useful for high profile community members
- the emotion is taken out of the purchasing process ensuring you do not overpay
- buyer’s agents can help you find properties with good capital growth potential and better rental returns.