At a recent open house on Buck Lane in Haverford, I met a home-seeker who lamented her inability to secure a moderately-priced single family home. As a full-time Realtor, focused like a laser on the mid-range, Mainline-area market ($225,000-$725,000), I naturally expressed my willingness to assist in her quest. Despite her understanding that the offer of Buyer Assistance comes with no obligation - and no fee from start to finish -she expressed firm disinterest in the notion of having a dedicated Buyers' agent.
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| Some House-Hunters Prefer to Go It Alone |
I realize there are countless excellent reasons why an eager buyer might rebuff the advances of a Realtor offering to audition his services. Even with the promises of freedom from any fees or immediate obligation, some folks are lone wolves, who prefer to hunt alone. Some folks may just not take a shine to the cut of my jib, effervescent wit, or relatively diminutive countenance and stoutness of stature. Whatever. There are dozens of good reasons to rebuff an encroaching Realtor seeking to cozy up and become a resourceful, cost-free adjunct to a House-Buying project. I get it, for sure.
But this woman's distinct perspective, expressed in a reasoned manner that conveyed she had given it considerable thought, was that she only wished to deal directly with Listing Agents. She said she would be eager to come look at homes for which I already represented the seller, but having a Realtor act as her buyers' agent was out of the question.
Her rationale included the conviction that if she was unrepresented and dealing directly with the Listing Agent, she would somehow be given preferred consideration and status over competing buyers. There is some logic and merit in play here. Listing Agents (Agents for Sellers) get to keep a full commission if there is no separate agent for buyers. But the reality is that almost every listing agent expects - and is delighted - to share their commission with an agent devoted only to representing the Buying party.
Homes are a big ticket item and Realtors frequently invest weeks, months, sometimes years to affect a sale. While the home is on the market, and then if it fails to sell, a Realtor gets zippo, bupkiss, nuttin' for his/her investment of time and effort. But the flipside, is that the commission a seller pays the Realtor if/when the home sells, is a very generous and princely sum. Realtors who act as Listing Agents, are typically delighted to split their well-earned and handsome commission with their colleague, who has through persistent searching, vigilance and effort brought a well-represented, informed and qualified Buyer to the table.
To this end, just about every Listing/Sellers' agent proudly and loudly advertises that he/she will share 50% of their commission. Occasionally, it does happen that the listing agent handles both Buyer/Seller sides and pockets 100 percent, but this is a situation known as Dual Agency and is implicitly fraught with conflict of interest and rarely beneficial for anyone but the double agent.. A Listing/Sellers agent's first and only interest is performing for the Seller and Only for the Seller. This typically means procuring the most viable buyer, willing to pay the most money, within a finite period of time.
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| Buyers' Agents Fiercly Outumber a Single Listing Agent. |
Even if a Listing Agent was willing to offer preferential consideration to his own buyer, the practice of advertising and sharing commissions, combined with raw numbers, makes the situation less than tenable. There are thousands of Realtors dedicated to locating a home for their Buyer clients (and thusly earning the finders fee).
And Since this Buyer-Agent group massively outnumbers the single listing agent by a ratio of several hundreds, if not more than 1000:1, who
is most likely to present to the seller, a qualified buyer, with the biggest purse, in the briefest amount of time? Obviously, it would be a Buyers Agent, and the statistics reflect the reality. In almost all home sale transactions on the Mainline area, the Buyer has a dedicated Buyers' Agent and the Listing Agent gratefully shares the commission.
By the time the Lady I met at the open house would find her listing on a consumer website and get her call returned by the Listing agent, many dedicated, full-time Buyers agents had likely already seen the property, showed it to their well-prepared, pre-qualified clients, and very likely submitted offers. This is why, for desirable and well-priced homes, it is absolutely necessary to develop a relationship with a knowledgeable and nimble Buyers' agent. Not only is Buyer Agency free, it's essential when trying to purchase a quality home, in a competitive market, such as we currently have in the Mainline area.
