What Is A Buyer's Agent?

I found a great blog post on this topic and I just had to share....

This was originally posted by Alexandra Hunter in 2009 but her Real Estate blog  Ottawa Virgin Home Buyers   appears to have been abandoned....

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Did you know all Realtors work on behalf of the seller of a home and not the buyer?

Did you know that by law, all Ontario Realtors are obligated to work in the best interest of their clients. This means that the Real Estate Agent showing you the beautiful home, listening to you talk about arranging your furniture, talking about financial details - is actually working for the Seller of that home.

Canadians now have two choices: customer relationship or client relationship.

A customer service agreement is a disclosure form that states that the Realtor is NOT working for you as a buyer, but is providing customer service (fair and honest treatment, factual information about the property that is not visibly evident and to answer any questions you ask about the condition of the property) to you.

As a customer you are virtually unrepresented and in the largest transaction you may ever make.

Why not use a Realtor?

On the other hand, Buyer Representation Agreements state that the Realtor is working for you and that you are bound to that Realtor for the term of the agreement with a holdover period.

In this case, your Realtor is bound to you with fiduciary duties, (loyalty, obedience, full disclosure, duty to use skill, care and diligence, duty to account for all monies) and protects your information. A big thing for me is that it also allows the Realtor to share her expert opinions, giving you full advantage of their knowledge and expertise.

There is nothing in the Buyer Representation Agreement that states that you have to buy anything. It only states that if you do that you will use this particular Realtor and that they will be compensated for the service provided.

The best part is that there is no fee to the Buyer client. Instead the Realtor gets paid by the seller’s agent, just the way it has always been. Yes, that’s right, all that hard work and we work for you for FREE!

How do you become a client? It’s easy—home buyers sign an exclusive Buyer’s Representation Agreement with a Realtor. Usually, the party agrees that they will work together for a specified period of time and within that time the Realtor agrees to represent that Buyer to the best of their ability! Why not use a Realtor?