Do Buyers Brokers Get the Buyer A Better Price?

The answer to your question: Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Do you have experience with one, poorishlady?

I have used buyer's brokers three times and all three have tried to push me to offer max prices - so in my experience, they do what they can to get you to by the place regardless of price. They only get a commission if you get the place. You only get the place if you have the best offer (usually the highest). The math is simple after that in my book.

I have never used a buyer's broker. What I've seen happen to others is exactly what starfish says. They are close-the-dealers. They're not trying to help you as much as they're trying to close the deal and pocket their cash.
You can do it on your own, and then you have a much clearer picture of what's actually going on. And the selling broker will be more in your court because he/she gets the whole fat wad.
Probably 90% of buyer's brokers will not help you worth the bother.
You basically MUST hire a broker when you're selling. You have the option not to have one when you're buying: enjoy that option.

Actually, yeah, I did use a buyer's broker once out in the suburbs, but that's different. Here in Manhattan, they're just more trouble than they're worth.
Also, it's a pain in the butt to have to hang out with them when you visit the apartments. They're always looking at your face and you have to play poker face too much.

poorishlady is only going off your friend's experience, not your own. I'm sure if there were more people talking on this dicussion you would find a lot of happy people who have used buyer brokers. The selling broker's loyalty is to the SELLER, ie 'fat wad', not the buyer. You have pro's (if you find a good buyer broker) and con's (if you find a bad one) but in the end the buyer broker's loyalty is and should be in the buyer's best interest, not the 'fat wad'. I have been a buyer broker in many instances and want those people to leave as happy clients - knowing I did the best job for them and they will feel happy with my representation, then go on to refer me to others. Your friends unfortunately worked with not so good buyer brokers only looking out for 'fat wad' but that was your friend's bad experience so don't taint others against using a buyer broker. How can both of you be so ignorant to not understand that if the selling broker gets all the commission, they are more inclined to make the deal happen - in the seller's best interest. They get paid whether you buy from them or the next person that walks in. there is so much more involved in the process but I don't have time to type a lesson in Real Estate 101.

I do understand your point APage - but technically a buyers broker and a buyer's interests are not really aligned. . .Still I wont deny there can be good ones. Still a buyer's broker will not get paid unless you buy and makes more money, the higher the purchase price. . . .so interests are simply not aligned from a technical point of view.

I'm hunting for a place now and am also finding a buyer's broker to be of little value. Has anyone had success in the past of using the selling broker but negotiating them down to a 4-5% fee and passing 1-2% savings to you? You would think they would prefer that to getting just 3% and they would have your interest at hand since they are now further incentivized for you to close. Is this at all typical? Thanks.

Based on my experience so far, I have been disappointed with the 2 most recent buyer's brokers that I have tried. I had one in 1991 who was wonderful, but I don't think she is around anymore. In 1991, the internet was not yet in existence and a buyers broker could help you find new listings ahead of others. However, it is 17 years later, and the "knowledge" purportedly offered by buyers brokers is negligible and even a detriment. They want you to close and will push you to get the "deal" of the day. A family member just bought an apartment without a buyer's broker and discovered that there was more negotiating power as a result. If you don't know anything about the area, perhaps the buyers broker may be helpful. Otherwise, don't bother.

To jtk5d: yes, you should try and negotiate in such a case. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and it certainly doesn't hurt to ask --- esp. if you're handing them a fat wad on a platter . . .

My experiences have only been negative. There was the Corcoran VP who was condescending when I suggested that a few properties I was considering may have some room for negotiation. Two of them were price-chopped a short time later. There was the guy I met at an open house and hit it off with. I had him join me at one viewing (a place I had found); he rushed me out with the vaguest of reasons and pitched me a unit he was representing as a seller's broker over coffee. Then there are the numerous brokers I've talked to on the phone, none of whom have ever found an apartment in my range and neighborhoods that I wasn't already aware of. In fact, I usually wound up educating them regarding some of the listings.

I think buyer brokers face a huge conflict of interest, as they make less the better they negotiate for you, and the 'adversary,' the sellers broker, is a potential source of future revenue for them. The one broker I might call in the future is UrbanDigs, since I know someone who got advice from him that was in her best interest, but not his.

One last thought. There have been threads recently about overstated square footage, which is sometimes totally ridiculous. Has anyone ever walked in with a buyers broker who said to the seller's broker "There is no way this apartment is xxx square feet. It's yyy at the most"?

Thanks for the response. Is this common? I would think all buyers who think buyer brokers are useless (everyone on this thread) would have tried this in the past rather than give the selling broker all 6%. Could it backfire in any way by asking and the selling broker flatly saying no (and potentially being offended)?

My place is on the market and there was a very interested couple, but they were newbie buyers and thought they could give me a punch-list of dumb things to fix in my mint-condition co-op. Through my broker and their buyers' broker I said of course not, but they kept on and on about the punch list and finally shut up about it but then brought all the things up again when we went to contract! I had to tell them to walk. The brokers involved all agreed to take a cut in commission to make the deal work --- they themselves cooked this up. I said fine, of course --- but that didn't help educate the buyers to how to get this place. This whole thing was mostly the fault of their buyers' broker for not educating them about the realities of the market.
So that is my recent direct personal experience with buyers' brokers. Ninety percent of them: Just another hand sticking out for a share of the pie . . .
APage above is a broker and so isn't a source of neutral information.

jtk5d --- the point in my story above is YES, brokers WILL negotiate on their commission if there's some reason to ------ definitely go for it. But you're going to have to convince them of a reason why. They're cunning ---- they won't do it unless they feel they have to.

Poorishlady....your 2 postings above are pretty bitter. There's nothing wrong with a punch list and a list certainly has nothing to do with newbies or not. If you had wanted to sell YOU should have come to some agreement with the potential buyers. Let me guess: you're a single, mid 40s'-50's Upper West Side lady who has no kids, no family and no life (given your postings on Saturday, I see this is true)....clearly your mint-condition co-op is not as mint as you think it is. I'm sure the buyers didn't want to deal with you and thought you were a pill.

If someone posts on a Saturday they have no life?

Like people do not have computers at home, and everyone is busy the ENTIRE weekend doing super-fun and super-cool things.

YOU, Grunty, actually seem like the bitter one...

Uh MAV -

This posting is from Poorishlady from Sat....I mean, c'mon...

"It's cold and I'm depressed and I've already missed a 1pm surprise birthday party for a friend of mine. Should I stay in my pajamas and keep surfing streeteasy or should I go to an Obama party at 4pm?
Who are all you RE addicts voting for anyway? Don't worry. It won't affect NYC RE."

I hear ya. I did not realize the pattern...

They get a bigger commision check the more you spend, so their incentive is to get you to spend more, not less. They are a total waste of time.

My experience was mostly good with a buyer's broker. My broker found listings that were not on streeteasy or nytimes and found listings that were what we were looking for. She negotiated with the seller's broker on my behalf. We bid on multiple properties, and I was happy to not have those conversations with the seller's broker myself. Our broker was enthusiastic and found us a property in our price range that we got for below asking and commission was 5% split between her and the seller's broker. She was honest and didn't push us when we said "no" and gave an explanation.

The things I didn't like about the buyer broker was the lack of knowledge of what the state of the transaction was at certain points of time, e.g. pressuring us to sign the contract when in fact the contract was in the seller's attorney hand and there was no way for us to sign it that Friday, we'd have to wait until the following week. Saying she was going to do something that day, but wouldn't get around to it the next day.

Also while I was looking for an apt., I had 2 sellers brokers laugh in my face and say there was no way I would find the apt. I was looking for in my price range. My skin grew thick, and I was grateful to have a broker who said that was bull****, and we'd absolutely find what we want in our price range, and our broker was right.

Also you don't have to go to all the open houses with your buyer's broker. Ours was happy to vet properties and send listings in advance of Sunday's open house crawl.

"I had 2 sellers brokers laugh in my face and say there was no way I would find the apt. I was looking for in my price range. My skin grew thick, and I was grateful to have a broker who said that was bull****, and we'd absolutely find what we want in our price range, and our broker was right."

Valldejuli, it sounds like you found one of the good ones (though the over-eager contract thing isn't so great). Would you mind sharing his/her name?

Grunty, actually, I told those buyers to go away but the brokers didn't because they want to close deals quickly (duh!!) and to FINALLY make the buyers go away after they started wasting my lawyer's time, I raised the sale price 5K.
Yes, sometimes buyers are pains in the butt. (And in this case, their broker didn't help them by telling them I'd already said NO to their requests.)
Really and truly.
Grunty, tell us why your name is Grunty, and tell us about your fabulous life (now that you have MINE all figured out).
(My Obama thread got a lot of response ---- maybe that was my intention???!!!!!///!!!!
Grunty, Grunty, chill.
Overall, buyers' brokers are a waste of time.