A Partial List (Half, to be Exact)
What does your Realtor do to earn their commission?
As a Buyer’s agent, the list includes:
–Making you aware of a house you wouldn’t have otherwise found. Or, certainly not as fast.
–Positioning you to buy that house, possibly navigating multiple offers from competing buyers.
–Putting an approximate market value on the home you want to buy, to inform your negotiating.
–Helping you avoid buying a home that would have been a poor fit, or a potential money pit.
–Helping get you the closing date you absolutely had to have.
–Directing you towards the best-fitting loan product for your circumstances — and putting you in touch with reputable lender(s) offering it.
–Making sure you didn’t overpay on closing fees.
–Making sure any inspection issues got addressed, or, were reflected in the purchase price.
–Making sure you knew exactly what was happening at each stage of the deal, and telling you what was coming next.
I’m sure there are more — but that’s a good start.
Such a Deal (Really!)
Not every Buyer’s agent performs every function on every deal (save the last one regarding knowing what to expect).
But, even if the number of tasks is only 3-4, that still is usually worth far more than the couple grand in commission the agent will receive, for what in all likelihood is a couple months of work (you certainly hope not more).
The icing on the cake?
The Buyer doesn’t pay that couple grand — the Seller does.*
See also, “Realtor Job Description.”
P.S.: notice my preference for the word “directing” vs. “steering.” 🙂
*The commission paid by Sellers is typically split roughly in half — one-half to the Buyer’s agent and their broker (called the “pay-out”), the other half split by the listing agent and their broker.
