The seller usually pays most of the fees to realtors when a house is sold and that is split to the buyers agent. So having a buyers agent can be good.

There's a lot of confusion about buyer brokers and buyer's agents. You should google and do a little reading and ask questions to see if there are any specific issues in your state. Try to get a difinitve response - it can be hard.

The most important thing I think is that your buyers agent or broker should be strictly and only representing you and is also smart enough and or experienced enough (experience only goes so far if they are kind of dumb or disorganized) to be good at protecting you when negotiating and submitting an offer by recommending what contingencies to include, remember to put in time references for responses etc. can watch out for things like if the seller wants to use a Title company that not so good...the list is long.
They should also be well organized, up to date on state laws and good at the paperwork.
The other part is the warm and fuzzy part. How do you like working with someone? Do you want them to take charge and do it their way? Do you like working as a team and want to help? Do you have a lot of time and want a relaxed approach? Are you a hard headed business person with no problems getting in the trenches, lowballing, hard negotiating? Personalities between the two of you do matter.
FWIW I think some of the older realtors tend to know their stuff but also tend to be inflexible in their approach. They search the MLS, they show you homes, you pick one. Younger realtors are a little more insecure in their dealings with people and personalities and will be more flexible, but may not have the experience when it comes to knowing the market and negotiating. A younger realtor with a good firm and or mentor might be a good approach. Some realtors within big firms have started making up teams, not sure whether thats good or bad, just mentioning as that might be a way of tapping into more experience.

You should always feel comfortable. Sometimes you only have to sign with a realtor per house, you don't have to sign for a specific amount of time with a buyer's agent. It is considered good etiquette I think to be working with one at a time.
Others here will offer more advice.

Just bought a house yesterday in Colorado. I did have a buyer's agent. I believe that he had integrity and for the most part, he gave advice in my best interest. But, on some issues, it was debatable whether the advice was for his or my sake. (Example, the seller wanted to have a 60 day contract (close 60 days) after contract. It seemed that the agent was trying to set up a close early, rent back. I was not comfortable about this and it didn't happen. But it would have made the agent happy to get his commission, get the transaction over & done with -- and if there were problems, they would all be mine alone. There were a few other issues.
When I sold a home several years ago, there were huge issues in which the agent was looking out for himself, at my expense. I learned a lot at that time.

And I learned on this latest transaction that even though I seemed to have an extremely honest buyer's agent, I should have had a real estate attorney on hand to use as a sounding board. I probably won't be buying another house (at my age), but should it happen, I will have an attorney check every document.
Good luck
Susan

Hunter, go to yahoo.com, then check out their real estate page. From there you can enter info to find an agent with homegain.

I know these agents pay to use this service but I interviewed one out of the 15 that I got (all were out of my area), she was a top notch company. I would have used her to sell my house but she was 25 minutes from me, I needed someone local. This woman was number 1 on google searches and paid for search engine preference. Just because they pay for top ranking or a service like homegain doesn't mean they aren't established.

Personally I would not sign with any buying agent. I would go with the agent that I looked at the house with. I think each agent has his/her own way of presenting the house/sale. It seems to me that if you signed with only one agent, you could could be put in a situation that if you wanted to see a certain house/neighborhood and that agent did not want to show homes in that area, she/he would not. Again I will not be tied down to one agent, regardless of the reason.

mariend - if you use a buyers agent they work for you and not the sellers as is the case otherwise so when you work with the sellers agent you need to be careful of what you disclose to the agent as they can use that info and pass it on to the sellers. Not bad, but you need to be careful. You could sign a dual agency, but again you don't have anybody that is on your side, but rather somebody that has to take both sides into account which imo doesn't work well for either.

As far as them not showing you homes in an area. I have never run into that, but I would think that would be a breach of the ethics and should be reported.

huntersox - Attached is a link I found from Colorado talking about Brokerage Relationships

Here is a link that might be useful: CO - Brokerage Relationships

It is a very bad idea to be represented by the same agent that is listing the house. Their primary duty is to the seller, not you.

I have always used a buyers agent, and he would show us anything on the market over 4 counties. He also was free to give me advice on why I should not buy certain houses, something a listing agent cannot do.

Here is a link that might be useful: National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents

After researching agents I would sign with one but if I was looking in different areas, I wouldn't want the same person to show me all of them. I made this mistake, and when I spoke to someone that was in another county that I was also looking in, she told me honestly about schools & town info, while the agent I had really couldn't give me this info. If I were signing a contract I would make sure the area is included.

I would assume that you may be able to cancel a contract if you aren't happy and clash with the person. You don't know until you actually work with them. ^This is something I would keep in mind and ask about.

If you sign with a buyer's agent, then if you find a FSBO, the agent is going to want YOU to pay the commission of the seller doesn't. You could lose out on a home that you want to buy because of this.

So, I would not sign anything as a buyer. or, just sign for that day or for the specific homes that a particular agent shows you.

I was a FSBO seller and had a couple that was very serious about making an offer on our place. They came twice on their own. They had signed with a buyer's agent. They were relocating for work and had to buy pretty fast. Upon the second visit they mentioned that their agent wants 3% commission, and that is what they signed in the buyer's agent agreement. The agent didn't even contact us and did not visit the home at all.

We told buyer that we would pay 1.5% of agents commission. But agent wanted the 3%. The buyer just couldn't handle having to pay the other half of the commisions - 1.5% (even though they signed that they would in the agreement), so they moved on. We were in a seller's market and just wouldn't pay the 3%.

We ended up selling to someone that had no agent and gave that buyer 1.5% off the asking price.

I looked at FSBO's when I was shopping with a buyers agent. I looked at the houses myself, and had I bought one, my buyers agent would have been due nothing. He wouldn't have been part of the transaction.

One good thing about Colorado RE is that we don't have sub agency or dual agency. So you have a choice of being represented by a buyers agent or as a default, a transaction broker.
You are under no obligation to sign anything and will therefore be working with a transaction broker (you can sign a transaction broker agreement that ensures your REALTOR will get paid and not by you). As a transaction broker, the agent has a reduced legal liability toward you and will not owe you any loyalty or fiduciary obligations such as advising you what is best for you or about the sellers motivation to sell etc.
You can sign an agreement for one house, one day or one year, once you feel comfortable with the agent, you can decide which way you want to go.
If you are a first time homebuyer, my suggestion is to have someone experienced on your side. If you decide not to sign with a buyers agent or transaction broker agreement, don't be surprised if you don't get the attention and the commitment of the agent to work with you, agents like to know that their time effort will be rewarded eventually.
Good luck in your search, it's a good time to buy in Colorado.

I have never signed with a buyer's agent to view homes. Was never led in any way to feel it was necessary or customary here. The only signatures I ever made on the buying end of it was when we wanted an offer submitted.

Out of courtesy, when I find an agent with whom I am comfortable, I always call the same agent who has shown me homes previously so that they can be rewarded with their split of the commission the seller is paying. Sometimes I have to wait a day or so longer, sometimes I feel like she makes an extra effort since I don't realtor hop, nor make contact directly with the seller's realtor.

This forum has surely been an eye-opener to me and it's fascinating to see how things are customarily done elsewhere.

We've always used a buyers agent for the purchases we've done so far. When it has come time to actually do an offer we have signed a buyers agent agreement for that offer so that we are protected in that the agent works for us. It hasn't tied us in to anything during the other times and wouldn't have any issues with a FSBO. We did continue to use the same agent througout. We used the same agent for our last 2 purchases this year and didn't sign the buyers agreement until we found something we were ready to offer on. Our agent didn't care as he'd get paid either way and knew we weren't working with another agent.

I am a Realtor and can give you a little advise even though I dont know your state laws. First of all never ever sign anything unless you are 100% comfortable with it.

What I would recommend is talk to a few LOCAL agents and "interview" them. See which ones listen to what you want, are responsive and have personalities that you are able to work with and enjoy. Something to the effect of making a call and seeing how long they take to send you some listing sheets and what homes they are for and meet them to see one or two of these. Then pick ONE (the one who found you the homes you liked best- meaning they listened to you and whose personality you enjoyed)of them dont keep working with a bunch of agents it's just not fair to us and you will not get the best service.

Even if they have you sign a contract at least you can be comfortable with them now- I personally would never sign a buyers agency contract on the first meeting. Also remember contracts are changeable so if you want to write in something about FSBO's and if you are responsible for payment put in a number that you think is fair but remember its not fair to them if they drive you all over the place spend hours and hours on you and then you take the education they have given you and use it to cut them out of the deal.

Good luck!