How to find an agent..

I suggest you start with honest answers to two questions:

1) What are you looking for in a home?
2) What do you want/need/expect from an agent?

The clearer your answers are to those questions, the better-equipped you will be to choose the right agent, or no agent at all.

I would recommend first getting familiar with the market for the particular type of space you're looking for. This is easily done on sites like Streeteasy, Trulia, PropertyShark and the NYT. Go to open houses and see what's out there. Once you've established your preferences (UWS or UES? Condo or Co-op? Prewar or Modern?) you can start looking for a knowledgeable agent. Or not. Truthfully, it isn't necessary to have a buy-side agent in a transaction, and many buyers choose not to work with one.

I agree that you don't necessarily need a buyer's agent, but a novice in this market could easily end up spending way too much for apartment if they have no help. Assuming the buyer's broker is honest, they should be able to provide you with information on pricing that you may not otherwise find. Lots of people on this board are savvy enough to find that info on their own, but lots of people are not. Just make sure you ditch the broker if you feel they are prssuring you just to buy something - after all, they only make money if you buy. Good luck.

Once an offer is accepted and negotiating the contract for a sale, is it the real estate broker that advises the buyer what clauses to add to the contract? (i.e., protection against increases in common charges, mortgage contingencies, closing dates, etc.) Or does the real estate attorney provide that advice? I am in a situation where I did not use my own broker, but now I am finding that many things that should have been in the contract to protect us are not there. As a novice in the real estate market, I was not aware of some of the risks involved, but am now finding out the hard way. We were not advised to add any protections by our attorney, but not sure if that's his responsibility or if that would have been the broker's role had we used one. If it's the broker's role, I would say this creates a good case to use one if you're a first time buyer.

It is the attorney that should advise you of what should be in the contract to protect you. I've never heard of "protection against increases in common charges" and the closing dates are always approximate.

In my first purchase, my attorney didn't want to look at anything. I reviewed the contract, looked at the Offering Plan and had my accountant review the financials. I would not advise anyone to go through that.

If you attorney is not doing his job, find another NOW.

If you have no references, maybe you can try going to different real estate sites and perusing agent profiles. You might find an agent who has a similar background/interests.

Or, ask co-workers.

You don't need to worry too much about picking the right agent - if you feel that they aren't looking for your best interests, then simply find another one.

Shea Thomas
Bond New York

Protection against increases in common charges is probably tied more to new construction. If the occupancy rate is low when the building begins closing, existing buyers want to be protected against exorbitant common charges should the unsold units remain empty. Also, I have heard that if the First Closing does not occur within one year of the date listed in the contract, buyers can get their deposits back. Not sure if that is the case with all contracts or only if a clause is put in the contract stating this. Regardless, I am just unclear over whether my attorney should recommend to me what clauses should be added to the contract to protect me or if I need to tell him what I want in there and he just comes up with the legal verbiage to add it in.

Haiku25 -

A good attourney would recommend some clauses, but most don't.

I think most people ask their real estate agent for clause suggestions, which they then pass on to the attorney to translate into legalese.

Shea Thomas
Bond New York

Pick up a bunch of rocks and see what crawls out from under them? (j/k).

An agent is interested in having the deal close and collect their money. The less the contract is changed, the quicker everyone comes to the finish line. No agent will start recommending anything that is not outlined in the contract in the first place.

There are agents that tell you that you will have open views when they know that a building will be built right in front of your windows. They will never tell you to put that into the contract.

Just a few weeks ago, there was a NYTimes article about false view claims for multi-million dollar condos. The buyers are now in court battling the developers. I would highly doubt that the view was ever mentioned in the contract, so it will an uphill battle.