The Advantages of a Buyer's Agency Agreement

Your interests are professionally represented

Enlisting the services of a professional Buyer's Agent is similar to using an accountant to help you with your taxes, a doctor to help you with your health care, or a mechanic to help you with your car. So the first advantage is pretty obvious. If you had the time to devote to learning all you need to know about accounting, medicine, and automotive mechanics, you could do these services yourself. But who has the time? You probably already have a full-time career to which you are committed. This is why you allow other professionals to help you in specific areas of expertise.

The Hill Country HOME TEAM has devoted their time to perfecting a career in real estate service. Continuing education, market research, and years of experience are combined with an excellent team of real estate professionals to find you the perfect home quickly. We will take care of all the hassles of every day real estate transactions for you. We let you concentrate on your full-time job, while we do ours. We will guide you through the home buying process and exclusively represent your interests as we help you find a home, present your contract offer, negotiate, and close!

You will get a great home quickly and conveniently

The advantage to signing a Buyer's Agency Agreement with The HOME TEAM is that you will have a professional working to find and secure the perfect home for you exactly when you need it. Without an experienced agent, it is nearly impossible to find a home that meets your needs, get a contract negotiated, and close the transaction . We have vast computer networks to make sure you only tour homes that meet your specific needs. You won't need to spend endless evenings and weekends driving around looking for homes for sale or trying to search computer networks yourself. When you tour homes with your professional HOME TEAM Buyer's Agent, you will already know that the homes meet your criteria for bedrooms, bathrooms, garage space, square footage, neighborhood, etc. Also, your HOME TEAM Agent will ensure you are looking at homes that are in your price range.

You get a personal specialist who knows your needs

Just as your accountant, doctor, and mechanic get to know your needs through a steady relationship, your HOME TEAM Buyer's Agent gets to know your real estate needs and concerns. This type of relationship is built by open communication at all times and by touring homes with your Agent so he/she gets a good idea of your feedback and concerns about each home. If you try to jump from agent to agent, you will not receive the best real estate services possible, and you will be violating your Buyer's Representation Agreement with your agent. There is nothing to gain from trying to find and tour homes on your own. You will save a lot of time when your agent can tell you everything about any home before you see it.

What is the Buyer's Agency Agreement?

Entering into a Buyer's Agency Agreement has countless advantages and no disadvantages. When you sign the agreement, you are simply agreeing to "hire" a personal representative who, by law, must represent your best interests to the best of his/her ability. All of this personal service is available at absolutely NO COST TO YOU! The Seller's Broker is responsible for paying your Buyer's Agent fee. With The Hill Country HOME TEAM, you get a professional devoted to protecting your needs to help you make one of the most important investment decisions of your life -- and you don't even have to pay the fee.

What You Should Know About Buyer Agency

Homebuyers Want Buyer Representation

Homebuyers overwhelmingly embrace the practice of buyer representation, according to a new study commissioned by the National. Association of Realtors. The study, "The Survey of Recent Home Buyers, " conducted by Hart-Riehle-Hartwig Research, polled 800 current homeowners who purchased a home within the past two years. Of those surveyed, 78 percent said they had worked with a buyer's agent, and 84 percent said they would want to work with a buyer's representative for future purchases. In addition, 25 percent said selecting a buyer's rep was the most important factor in choosing a practitioner, compared to 17 percent who said a referral by a friend or relative would be the most important factor.

Source: The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University

We recommend that all home buyers go into a contract with their buyer's agent in order to have full protection and recourse.

The Buyer's Agent:

1. Enters into an agreement to represent the best interests of the purchaser, not the seller
2. By Federal law, must adhere to Federal Fair Housing standards, which states the buyer's agent must offer property without regard to race, creed, sex, religion, or national origin.
3. Will search the entire market area for all properties which meet the purchaser's needs, including the MLS, "For Sale by Owner", or new construction.
4. Locates and shows Available Properties, pointing out strengths and weaknesses to you.
5. Agrees to disclose to the purchaser all known information allowable by state or Federal law
6. Advises you regarding offers on a property
7. Helps insure the buyer is not unknowingly over-paying for a home
8. Will negotiate for the buyer on the issues of price, terms, financing, possession, contingencies, and inclusions/exclusions.
9. Assists the buyers in obtaining necessary property inspections
10. Agrees to keep all confidential information about the purchaser from the seller or listing agent
11. Confirms that needed corrections/repairs have been completed
12. Has in-depth mortgage knowledge to help determine the most favorable loan type for buyer
13. Reviews the HUD-1 settlement statement for accuracy
14. Is paid out of the listing agent's total commission and does not cost the buyer anything
15. Requires the buyer to provide true and accurate personal and financial information and an agreement by the buyer not to work with another agent during the term of the buyer's representation agreement
16. Can be fired by the buyer, at any time, if unhappy with the agent's performance