What is Real Estate Buyer Representation?
Buyer representation, or buyer agency, simply means that the person intending to purchase real estate has a real estate agent with a fiduciary obligation to represent his or her interests. It seems obvious that the buyer of a property deserves this. After all, the buyer is the one making one of the most expensive purchases of his or her life and is the one bringing all the money to the deal. And in most of the country, the buyer does get this representation.

However, the New York City area is an anomaly; the real estate business in our region has evolved in such a way that over 90% of the transactions, the real estate salesperson showing houses to the buyer is legally obligated to do everything possible to ensure maximum benefit to the seller. This will be the case for you unless you sign a buyer agency agreement with a real estate agent.

At that point, you have someone representing your interests. In exchange for this representation, you will have to sign a contract agreeing to pay your agent a fee. But, in 95% of transactions involving a buyer representative, the fee comes out of the commission paid by the seller and the buyer incurs no additional costs. And it is a contingent arrangement - if your agent does not find you a house and lead you to a successful closing, there is no fee.

Not only is there no reason not to have a buyer representative, but there are innumerable advantages that come with retaining one. In the interests of brevity, I’m limiting this call to action to the Top 10 Reasons You Need a Real Estate Buyer Representative.