Buyer agent

Yes. It always amazes me that buyers don't spend more time interviewing candidates to be their agent. If you consider that you're paying them (directly or indirectly) around 3% of the purchase price, you should get some sort of idea what their qualifications and skills are. People interview other candidates who are going to do work for them (staff, lawyers, accountants, etc.) , why not their agents?

Your agent should know enough about potential pitfalls to be able to warn you of them. You will make a lot of offers before you buy and need to have a sense of how the process works and what is appropriate or inappropriate behavior on your part or the part of the seller.

That said, in my three year search for a property, I dealt with dozens and dozens of brokers and never found any reason to use their services. Even if they were very nice and I liked them, their services are anachronistic. We can find listings ourselves. We have the internet.

Brokers are paid when the deal closes so they have a huge incentive to get you to close a deal and no incentive to discuss their opinions on certain properties. Some laws even prevent them from disclosing their opinions or information they know. They do not have lots of secret "pocket listings" to show you unless you are spending a real mint.

In most cases, they will not help you find the "best property for you". They will not tell you something is overpriced or on the wrong side of the tracks. They will push you to spend more than you can, downplay underlying problems and corner you into properties you are not fond of. They will not research properties for you. In three years I never even had an agent send me a breakdown of neighborhoods by price and sqftage or listings of recent sales in a neighborhood to help me get an idea of inventory and sales prices. Nothing. The actual job of the buyers broker is still a mystery to me.

The real value of having a buyer’s agent these days is "free" advice/guidance and a commission rebate to help cover your closing costs. It's certainly not in sending you listings which you've probably already seen online.

Even the advice part you can mostly find yourself online these days if you wanted to spend the time, for example:
Closing costs: http://www.hauseit.com/closing-costs-nyc/
Offer submission requirements: http://www.hauseit.com/nyc-fsbo-closing-process-home-sellers/
How to submit a board package: http://www.hauseit.com/nyc-coop-board-package-purchase-application/

Of course, since you're paying for buyer representation whether you choose to elect it or not, most people choose to have a buyer's agent. Why read about it when you can ask a person?

Just make sure you get a rebate, otherwise yes you are doing that person a huge favor (3% of the sale price in commission)!

That is why I created an alternative model that accounts for current technology and the opening up of markets. It's all about having options. Our success, I believe is that we are a full service brokerage with a modified business model to account for the opening up of the NYC market as well as making changes to meet jaded buyers expectations.

Keith Burkhardt
The Burkhardt Group

Your agent may be good despite his/her inexperience but you may be better off with someone more seasoned. Have you met this person? Do they seem like they know what they're talking about? I've met too many agents that just don't bring much to the table. But I also worked with people who were an enormous help. Generally, you want someone who understands what you're looking for, knows the area well, has a good sense of the market, can negotiate a great deal for you, and will help you navigate all the issues you may not be familiar with. I wouldn't take a referral from a mortgage broker. I'd ask friends whose opinions I trust.

bravo 2013nyc!...agents are only concerned with the close "ABC". They are actually working against you(their client). They indirectly or directly pressure you as a buyer or seller to accept the offer. Why? To get the deal CLOSED. Your agent is actually working AGAINST you. Desperately trying to get you to accept anything. It's a CRAZY racket the broker industry has. It's ripe for the industry disruption that is happening now with the new business models.

One is certainly not going to be able to become an excellent negotiator by referring to the Internet. Being a good negotiator means that the broker knows the market. This is one prerequisite. Lots of hands on experience is most important. And there are some very good brokers who take pride in their work and know that putting the interests of their clients first is far more important than anything else. And a satisfied client will even give referrals and may turn into a repeat customer. It's known as building ones business.

Ellen Silverman,Real Estate Broker
Licensed Mortgage Broker since 1990
NMLS#60631

agree with steveF completely. unless one does not know how to use the internet search service at all, then perhaps a buyer's agent can add some value. however even though they say you're not paying them directly you are, through the seller. I made the mistake of using a buyer's agent, and all she cared about was closing the deal. She is very nice, polite, charming and efficient - but not worth paying for in my opinion.
If you're buying a coop, the boards are less difficult these days so those days where the buyer's agent can fill you in on information about the board is not as relevant these days. My buyer's agent used the opportunity to get me to provide more information than needed on my finances for the coop board- just for her benefit so she could sell me another property later on. In short, I did realize what she was doing after awhile, and I no longer do business with her, or refer people to her.

steveF & MattThompson - I 100% agree with you. With search websites like StreetEasy these days I'm not sure what the value of a broker sending you listings is anymore. I usually have already seen the listings my agent sends me once in a long while when he thinks of me .. it's not so much value add.

Agree on the rebate idea, if there is a way to get them to give me part of their commission to cover my Mansion Tax, done! I'm all for that, at least there is some monetary value add there. Any recommendations? Hauseit seems to be the most established player in this space, others are mostly mom and pop shops which I'm worried other brokers will probably hate..

sf212 - I worked with Dan Gotlieb at Digs Realty (www.digsrealtynyc.com) - a rebate broker - and he was fabulous! There was never a problem with the brokers on the other side of the deal (he engaged many, as it took me a looooong time to pull the trigger and buy a place). My understanding is that in Manhattan (and a lot of Brooklyn and Queens), most brokers are members of REBNY which requires them to work with each other and split their commissions. At the end of the day, Dan gave me back 2% of my purchase price and added a ton of value in ways I never thought a broker could. To be honest, before Dan, I was not a fan of brokers. Now, I see the value they can bring if you can find a good or great one.

We have been adding value to the buy side (as well as the sell side) of transactions at RealDirect (www.realdirect.com) since 2010, and have hundreds of deals under our collective belt. I started the company specifically because I believed there needed to be a better way to be a brokerage. We offer rebates (that are dependent on the commissions we receive) when we work with buyers and have a unique proposition in that we combine our technology with real, experienced RealDirect agents to help you save money and buy smarter. As far as the buyer's brokerage is concerned, the rebate we offer is definitely why most people initially contact us. But like I heard earlier on this board, our clients are grateful for the advice we provide through the process that is often tricky and in many cases, insane. Sending buyers listings is usually the least important part of the service - although our experience can help uncover listings that are no longer on the market or don't meet the search criteria a user enters, but in fact, could work for them with some creativity. As for being paid on commission, I wish there was another way. Our initial concept was to work on a fee for service basis, but no buyer wanted to pay unless they completed the transaction. As I always tell people, it's not that real estate brokers get paid too much, it's that they almost always get paid the wrong amount. A broker can work with a client for a year and never get paid, and for a day, and collect a huge check. But no matter how we are paid, we provide value in multiple ways for our clients. And until things change, we will work on commission and offer a rebate.