Buying a home is one of the most stressful activities in the average person’s lifetime, on par with going through a divorce, paying taxes, or going to the dentist- but it doesn’t have to be!  Because buying a home is done so infrequently, most home buyers do not feel experienced or comfortable enough to ‘do it alone.’ 

Buying a home involves a myriad of mortgage products, inspectors, and engineers, to dealing with termites, radon, buried oil tanks, assessments, zoning issues, certificates of occupancy, appraisers, attorneys, title companies, insurance, and other services and concerns.  Home buyers rely on real estate agents to ‘help them through the process.’   The challenge is, most real estate agents represent the interests of sellers by law, and may not provide you with the best services and providers to protect your interests.

There is more far information available to consumers when buying a kitchen appliance, a television, or even an automobile, than buying a home.   Buying guides, such as Consumer Reports, offer a lot of information for a wide variety of products and services.  Because these items are generally purchased more frequently, and the monetary obligation is less daunting and far-reaching than buying a home, buyers feel more comfortable and experienced acting ‘on their own’ when buying products and services other than a home.  

So, after all that, here are some of the routine mistakes that buyers frequently make… 

1- Calling the listing agent or listing company for a property they have interest in seeing.   Why?  Because that agent and the agent’s company directly represent the best interests of the home seller.  Their job is to find the best buyer offering the highest price at the best terms for their client, the seller.   Most real estate agents by law represent the best interests of the seller, not the buyer.  An ordinary seller’s agent may offer to be your ‘buyer’s agent’, but that introduces the possibility of dual agency, which means you are essentially on your own, or no representation at all, which again means you are on your own.   They cannot provide you with information or counsel which would help you, while lessening the seller’s chance of selling at the maximum possible price and best terms.   Their job is to sell you a house, not help you buy one with your best interests in mind.  Seeing a home through a particular agent may obligate you to work with that agent in buying that home if you have already presented an offer for it, depending on the situation, and if certain protocol was properly exercised by the agent.

2- Visiting an open house, and buying the home through the listing agent at the open house- for the above-stated reasons. 

3- Using mortgage companies, home inspectors, attorneys, and other providers referred to them by an ordinary seller’s agent.  Because that agent represents the seller, and is obligated to do his or her best to bring that buyer to the closing table, quite often the providers referred are ‘rubber-stampers’, who will do the job, but not necessarily with your best interests in mind.  They depend on real estate agent referrals for work.  If a referred home inspector finds ‘too many problems’ with a house, that inspector risks losing future referral business from that agent and company.  A referred mortgage provider may not offer the most competitive rates, terms, and fees, and may be referred because they can get the deal closed, or because there is an affiliation with the real estate company. 

4- Asking a seller’s agent how much to offer, what a property is worth, what the drawbacks are of a certain home, neighborhood, school, or town, etc.  Seller’s agents cannot provide this type of information to unrepresented home buyers (customers).  Only an exclusive buyer’s agent from an exclusive buyer’s agency (a company which does not list property for sale) will provide this type of information, and much more, to home buyers, on any property.

5-  Providing the listing agent or a seller’s agent with personal and financial information, including your income, motivation to buy, mortgage potential, and other sensitive information.  They are required to disclose this info to any seller whose property you are interested in buying.  The result is you may end up paying more to buy this property than necessary.

What’s a homebuyer to do?  Smart homebuyers shop for a dedicated buyer’s agent before they start looking at homes. 

Only an exclusive buyer’s agency can guarantee 100% loyalty, representation, protection, advocacy, confidentiality, and disclosure to home buyers on any home 100% of the time.  A ‘part-time’ buyer’s agent from a company which lists homes for sale by law simply cannot provide this guarantee or level of service to home buyers.