Perplexed asked in a previous thread
"
Has anyone ever used an exclusive buyer's realtor? In this day where it's a buyer's market agents who only represent buyers should be in a great position."
And in a follow-up post:
"
Here is what I found. I know of no one who has ever dealt with any of them, which is why I asked.http://www.carlahomes.com/http://www.dreamstreetre.com/http://www.worldstar.com/~pdxpro/Read the document at the lower left on the last link. It is an interesting discussion of what to watch out for."
Here's the
document he's referring to, which I think is a good source of info for potential buyers:
I haven't used an exclusive buyer's agent, but I have given the subject of buyer's agents a bit of thought.
One issue I see is that if you've acted as a seller's agent and never sold a house, you don't know all the inside issues that would help with negotiation.
But I think the biggest issue is the basic principal-agent issue and misalignment of interests between the buyer and buyer's agents such as:
1. The buyer stands to benefit from a lower price, while the agent benefits from a higher price due to a greater likelihood of sale and a greater commission.
2. The buyer might be in a position to wait as long as possible for a good deal, but the agent only makes money on a sale, so is inclined to push for a sale.
Those are the two big issues I see, I'm sure there are more. But it seems like #1 could be eliminated with a different payment structure, such as a flat fee plus bonus for discount. Or a retainer plus hourly rate.
I really like the idea of paying a flat payment with a bonus for a discount, based on the amount of discount. Does anybody know of any agents using a payment structure like this? To answer Perplexed's question, has anybody used an exclusive buyer's agent and what were the results?
