Agent Types

To really understand why an exclusive buyer agent is the home buyer’s best choice, you must know about the three very different types of real estate agents.

The type of agency you choose can make a big difference. Even though more than ninety percent of home buyers use a REALTOR®—often because they value help accessing the Multiple Listing Service (MLS)—many do not know there are different types of real estate agencies. Choose the right type of real estate agency and you can get more choices of homes, better information, better guidance and a higher quality home, all for a lower price. Learn about The Home Buyers, Inc. and how, as an exclusive buyer agency, it fills a vital niche among the three types of real estate agencies just doing their jobs.

Exclusive Buyer Agencies: Representing Home Buyers One Hundred Percent!

This is by far the best option for home buyers, since exclusive buyer agents are the only REALTORS® that exclusively represent the interests of the home buyer.

Although less than one percent of active agents qualify as exclusive buyer agents, the exclusive buyer agent advantage makes them worth seeking out.

The defining characteristic of an exclusive buyer agent is that it never lists homes. If it does, it is more accurately a dual agency (see below). One way to confirm that an agency is an exclusive buyer agent is to see if it is a member of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA).

Exclusive Seller Agency: Representing Sellers One Hundred Percent.

Exclusive seller agencies represent the seller. Since they never work for home buyers, they are free to admit that they are devoted one-hundred percent to the interests of the seller. They want the highest price for the shortest time on the market. And, unless required specifically by law, they have no reason to reveal any information that could impede their goal.

Since an exclusive seller agent doesn’t represent home buyers as a matter of practice, there’s almost no danger of a home buyer winding up with one.

Few agencies call themselves an exclusive seller agency. Instead, most fall into the dual agency category (see below).

Dual Agency: Splitting Representation

Most real estate agencies offer to represent both buyers and sellers, working as dual agencies.

For the home buyer, this raises questions of conflict of interest. Did their real estate agent really show them all the houses that fit their home search? Did the dual agent really give the best advice when it came to making an offer? Who will the agent work for if the home buyer wants out of a deal, but the seller does not?

The potential for conflicts of interest is just one of many reasons home buyers should beware of dual agents. Like most other REALTORS®, they are skewed to favor the seller.