A buyer's agent will hold your hand through the process and you will pay for that convenience. Sometimes you can negotiate a lower price if it's sold by owner. Yes you can buy with a buyers agent. If so having a lawyer review or better yet write up your contract will help keep you safe.

"...does the seller's agent automatically become my agent?"
It depends which state you are in. In some the listing agent reverts to a transaction broker or facilitator, in others a dual agent or remains a sellers agent.
What happens when a buyer like you comes along is spelled out in the listing agreement and only the seller and listing agent know what's in that.
It also spells out the compensation when an unrepresented buyer like you comes along, normally the listing agent gets to keep the total commission.

Beware of signing an exclusive contract for a long time with a buyer's agent. My daughter did this in Pittsburgh and then the person never had time to show her property. If the buyer's agent has an exclusive contract for an extended period, there isn't much motivation for them to find the right home for you.

The next time my daughter was serious about buying, she let several agents know exactly what she was looking for. An agent e-mailed her just hours after a home was listed & it worked out perfectly & she made an offer that day.

Good luck,
Susan

susan, what happened in that case, if you don't mind me asking? Did the agent that e-mailed her become her representing agent in the transaction? Did she make any sort of agreement with that agent or the other "several" agents, or did she just ask them to contact her? Thanks.

Yes, the agent who e-mailed her showed her the property and was the "buyer's agent" in the transaction. The other agents were aware of her preferences and had shown a property or two, but they did not show her the property that she bought and were not involved in the purchase in any way.

I may be in the home market soon, and I see no reason at all to sign a contract with a buyer's agent. I plan to be fair and work with a helpful agent and have that person receive a commission. But it seems that in my last two purchases, I actually found the house I ended up buying & then called an agent to show it to me. In both cases, it was an agent who had been helpful to me.
Susan

susana 2006 wrote: I may be in the home market soon, and I see no reason at all to sign a contract with a buyer's agent.

I think in a strong sellers market where homes are going under contract in a day or two with multiple offers over the asking price, a *good exclusive buyer's agent can be very helpful because s/he can alert you to homes that will be coming on the market or homes that have just listed.

In a buyer's market, actually signing an agreement with a buyer's agent may not be necessary but I personally would always work with a buyer's agent no matter what the market.

I'm confused. If you don't sign an agreement, but have an agent looking for houses for you, and they find one that you buy, do you then sign an agreement after that? Doesn't seem like an agent would be willing to act on faith like that...

I have never signed an agreement with a buyer's agent, but I have always used one. I liked having someone set up the appointments etc. Also - one of my last two purchases was a property that we were able to get in to see before it was on the MLS and having that jump really helped us get that place. I always keep in mind that as much as I like and trust the agent, he or she is working for himself/herself. I have never revealed what my best offer would be - I just tell the agent what the offer is that I want to make.

kevinoutwest wrote: I'm confused. If you don't sign an agreement, but have an agent looking for houses for you, and they find one that you buy, do you then sign an agreement after that? Doesn't seem like an agent would be willing to act on faith like that...

Exclusive buyer agency, where an agreement is signed between agent and buyer and the buyer is actually the one paying the buyer agent's commission, is actually fairly new and not widely used yet. As I understand it, if you as a buyer are working with an agent to find a home and s/he presents the offer on the property that you end up buying, your agent is entitled to the agreed upon percent of the commission on the sale, whether an agreement was signed or not.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nat'l Assoc of Exclusive Buyer Agents

"I have never signed an agreement with a buyer's agent, but I have always used one."

So how do you approach the agent? Do you say, well I'm looking for a house. If you find one for me great. But I may find one on my own, or I might have another agent find one too. In that case you're out of luck. (Don't mean to sound sarcastic. Just being brief.)

Some buyers agents in this market require a contract. Ours doesn't, as he says "if you don't want to work with me, I don't want to force you". But we use him to get us into see the homes easily (most are lockbox) and he has some rehab experience that could be helpful. He'll also schedule the inpsection and negotiate.

If you don't have an agent but find a home that is listed on with a regular agency (vs. For sale by owner) the selling agent will require you to use her or one of her colleageus for fair representation and you'll still not save on the overall price that way (maybe 1% less?).

One nice thing is if you plan to look at a lot of properties a buyers agent can line them all up for you, and you don't have access to many hot new listings on the Internet without them.

I'm confused. If you don't sign an agreement, but have an agent looking for houses for you, and they find one that you buy, do you then sign an agreement after that?

It depends on the agency laws in your state. In Oregon, where I live, if an agent shows a buyer homes they are considered to be working for the buyer and have a fiduciary obligation to the buyer. In other states you need to sign a buyer's agency contract to have the same kind of relationship.

Doesn't seem like an agent would be willing to act on faith like that...

Trust me, there are dozens of agents will to take the risk of showing a buyer homes without a signed contract. Right now buyers are like gold, and there is stiff competition amongst agents to get buyers.

"Trust me, there are dozens of agents will to take the risk of showing a buyer homes without a signed contract."
Specially the inexperienced ones! Do your homework!

As I had mentioned, my daughter got burned by having signed an exclusive contract with a buyer's agent in Pittsburgh & that person had absolutely no motivation to spend time helping her find a "starter" home.
So when she was in the market in Iowa, she called several realtors in order to see a property she was interested in. They asked her to sign an agreement and she said "no", that was not something that she would do again. But she did explain to several agents what she was looking for. As I mentioned before, one agent did e-mail when a home hit the market and she made an offer that day & worked with that agent on the transaction.

I would be careful in any transaction to reveal much information to any agent (buyer or seller). When I sold my mother's home, my seller's agent eventually became the buyer's agent (dual agency) and was using all his negotiating skills to try to have me lower the price.

I will be looking at homes soon in Colorado, so it will be interesting to see if I can find a realtor to help. (If I did sign an agreement, it would only be on a month to month basis, with a cancel anytime clause) I learned at least that much in the past few years.
Good luck
Susan

Just one agent's opinion, but when a buyer commits to working with me I commit to finding them a "perfect" home. They get daily updates on new listings, etc I'll work very hard to help them. Mr. and Ms. "I going to shop around with different agents" don't get my attention and are timewasters. They don't get the inside scoop on hot new listings, etc. Maybe this philosophy will cost me some business in the short term, but I believe the service I provide to loyal customers and clients will more than make up for it in the long run. It took me awhile to realize this, but I would rather devote my time to real clients, my family, etc.

FYI--I don't have buyers sign an exclusive buyers agency contract, but I do become their agent by the work that I perform. The commitment is not formalized, but if someone is not willing to spend an hour discussing their needs/wants, financing options, etc. than they probably are not going to commit to working with a single agent. At that point they go onto my "B" list.

"(If I did sign an agreement, it would only be on a month to month..."
I'd probably have you sign a one day agreement, the commitment goes both ways and I wouldn't want to work with someone I don't like or who doesn't like me.
It's probation for both parties, which, if things work out, the agreement can be extended.

I certainly believe in fairness to agents helping me. I jave bought two homes in the past. In both cases, I had been working with an agent and being shown homes that didn't meet my needs. In both cases, I found an interesting home on my own, and in both cases I called the helpful agent to show the house and ended up buying it.

But I am not in the future going to reveal to any agent my personal financial details or how much I may or may not spend on a house. This was also the recommendation of the real estate columnist (national) in the newspaper. Too many times (as happened when I sold my mother's home) the agent ends up in a dual agency situation and and the agent is negoatiating for terms that may not be in the seller or buyer's best interests.

The original poster is extremely wise to ask these questions at the beginning of the process. I sure wish that I had done so.
Good luck
Susan

Where we live, one is not required by law to have a buyer's agent in order to purchase a house. We are looking on our own and will have our RE attorney draw up a contract when we find what we want. You will want to check with your state Realtor licensing board to see what the laws are in your area.

We are house hunting on the internet and in realty magazines. When we see a place we like, we call the selling agents number to go look at a house. Practically ALL of them ask us to sign a disclosure. We do not do this as this gives the agent the entire commission instead of being able to negotiate a more favorable price with which to pay our attorney.

As for the comment:
"Mr. and Ms. "I going to shop around with different agents" don't get my attention and are timewasters. "

This works both ways. Our previous buyer's agent sent us numerous listings of houses that weren't even close to our original description.

We know what we are looking for and do not like to waste anyone's time (including our own). We try to be considerate of an agent's schedule/time and have offered gas money for listings that are out of the way. We like to go to Open houses for this reason.

I'm sure there are very good buyer's agents out there, but I would certainly advise any new buyer to hire a real estate attorney of your own (not the broker's) before signing anything.

Good luck Kevin! Here are some links I found helpful

www.realtyone.com/
realtor.com
ask.metafilter.com/mefi/21871
http://www.bankrate.com/natl/news/real-estate/reguide/need-attorney1.asp
www.bankrate.com/dls/news/real-estate/20060216a1.asp
www.bankrate.com/brm/news/real-estate/20050813a1.asp
www.paloaltoonline.com/news_features/real_estate/fall2006/taylor.php
www.bobbruss.com/
www.realestateabc.com/

Real estate agents are just like the general population, there are good ones and bad ones. I don't think you should be made to sign with someone the first day you meet. However if you liked them and meet with them again, I think you should consider signing an agency agreement with them. When I first started in 2002, I spent a lot of time with buyers only to have them find a for sale by owner and not call to tell me. While they may have neglected me, they also lost their representation and protection. For a person that works solely on commission, it is upsetting to have done so much work and not get an benefit from it. I know it seems like we don't really do anything, but in actuality we do. As far as being unrepresented to save on the commission unless there is a stipulation in the listing agreement saying the commission will change with an unrepresented buyer, the agent listing the home and their brokerage will get the whole commission. Being unrepresented can be very detrimental to you as well. Your interests will not be protected and you may end up paying more than you would have had to. If you would like more information, feel free to go to my site to contact me.

www.westchathamhomes.com

Here is a link that might be useful: My website

I can truly understand that an agent feels reluctant to invest hours with a client with the chance that s/he will end up with nothing to show for it. But that's the nature of the beast in real estate, isn't it?

My mother's selling broker got a commission of $30,000 (ended up as a dual agency, so probably neither the buyer nor the seller were well represented). I would be surprised if the broker spent more than 15 actual hours (including all the calls trying to get us to lower the price) on this transaction.

I wish there were a sure fire way to get that wonderful agent who protects you and saves you money.
I was with some distant family in Colorado this holiday and asked for referrals for an agent I may need in the future. They all said that they ended up disliking the agents they used and didn't know of any person they would recommend (and one of the guests was an appraiser).
Susan