Important:  Please note that I have changed my e-mail address with effect from November 3 2007.
(If you have tried sending any message to the old address (dsp.pru@sympatico.ca) from October 29th onwards, it will NOT have reached me and, if you don't mind, needs to be resent to duncanpollock@sympatico.ca )

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Getting the most house for your money

Surprise:  the agent you're dealing with is working for the seller.  You may think otherwise, considering how much attention you're getting, how many homes you're being shown, and how much good advice seems to be coming your way.  But no, the only person truly on your side is you.
At least, this is how things are unless you arrange them differently -- as you now can do.

Until half a dozen or so years ago, the real estate business operated on the premise that the salesperson's job was to look after the seller's best interests, to not harm the seller's negotiating position, and to get the buyer to pay "the most money for the house."  The argument went that, because the seller was paying the commission, he/she was entitled to the best possible deal.  All the buyer deserved was a fair one.  However, the flaw in this point of view lay in the fact that it was really the buyer who paid the commission.  It was included in the purchase price and, although the seller wrote out a cheque to the real estate people, it was the buyer's money that made it possible.

Given today's increasing emphasis on protecting the consumer, the real estate business has therefore started to change its ways.  As a buyer you can now engage a salesperson to even up the odds -- to look after your best interests, to not harm your negotiating position, and, in effect, to get you the "most house for the money."

The concept -- which goes by the name of Buyer Agency -- is, even after a few years, still new enough to make many  real estate people uneasy, and you do need to find someone who understands it, welcomes it, and will gladly work wholeheartedly this way for you.  It won't cost you anything (because you're already paying the commission, aren't you?), but it does imply an expectation of loyalty from you.  If you run from listing agent to listing agent, call in about one ad after another, and drop into a slew of Open Houses all on your own, you're going to end up with salespeople whose purpose is to take care of their sellers rather than you.

With the help of a Buyer's Agent, though, the traditional belief in "letting the buyer beware" is offset by an approach that puts the seller on notice, too.  The effect is a much more level playing field, and your chances of finding the best possible deal are undoubtedly improved.

The Exclusive Buyer Broker idea

Although any real estate agent who chooses to do so can now act as a Buyer Agent, the ultimate version of such service is provided only by broker offices -- and the salespeople who work for them -- that no longer list properties but work solely for buyers.  This means they have neither an incentive nor a sense of obligation to favour any particular listing agent or company.  Instead, they are able to look at all and any properties with total impartiality.   

So far, only a very limited number of these Exclusive Buyer Broker offices have come into being, and mine is, as far as I know, the only one to be found in the Niagara Peninsula.  There are several of them in the US, where they first surfaced not too many years ago, and they aren't unknown in the Canadian commercial field as opposed to the residential one. Even so, their value to buyers lies in a focus on the total market and an emphasis on finding the best possible property, regardless of who has -- or hasn't -- got it listed.

My own interest in serving buyers to the exclusion of others has been longfelt.  My decision to branch out on my own this way six years ago was rooted in the success I'd always had in this direction. From my entry in the real estate business almost twenty years ago, I enjoyed -- and indeed preferred -- the challenge of finding "the one best buy" and I was never afraid of the deep and patient searching it sometimes involved.
One of the effects was to give me a nodding acquaintance -- and quite often a fairly extensive awareness -- of properties and conditions in The Niagara Region as a whole. Thus, whether you're talking St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Fort Erie, Welland, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Port Colborne, or all the points in between, you'll find me on your wavelength, just as you will if your interest lies in commercial, industrial, or investment properties rather than a residential one.

Making use of a Comparative Market Analysis

At least in theory, every listing price is supported by a comparison with what similar properties are presently asking, how much they recently sold for, and what higher figures failed to find buyers.  Sellers are invariably shown this information, which goes by the name of a Comparative Market Analysis, and most listing agents hope to have due notice taken of it.

Such, though, isn't always the case and on some occasions sellers stray far from it.
However, as part of my services as an Exclusive Buyer Broker, you'll be made aware of what the seller knew (or at least should have been told), even if the figures were largely dismissed out of hand (as is also often a possibility!).

The point is that I consider it an obligation to let you know what you ought -- and ought not -- to be paying when you buy a property.
Frankly, this isn't information you can expect from an agent who's working for the seller. In fact, the disclosure is in direct conflict with the responsibility to not harm the seller client's negotiating position.
Thus, just as using a Buyer Agent isn't going to cost you anything (because you're already paying the commission, aren't you?), there's a good chance that my services to you as an Exclusive Buyer Broker will also reduce the amount of money you put out!

Next ..........
 

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Back to the beginning
What a Buyer Agent does
The Buyer Agency Agreement

Who am I?
Additional information
Finding a home anywhere, arranging a mortgage, the ins and outs of home inspection, legal considerations and closing costs, regional and municipal facts and figures, commercial real estate, etc.

Any questions?    Something not clear?    Need to know more?   Just click here to e-mail me.
 

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You can add yourself to my mailing list if you wish. I send a newsletter out each month that deals with a variety of issues related to the process of buying property. There's nothing hard sell involved, I can assure you. Rather, the idea is to share my thoughts with you about how I believe buyers can be better served by the real estate industry. And to get a sense of the contents, you can take a look at some of my previous mailings by clicking here.

e-mail * First name * Last name * * = Required Field

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Note:  If you have an interest in buying or leasing industrial, commercial, or investment property, you may find it useful to browse an alternative website that I was recently encouraged to create.  It explains my role in offering exclusive buyer representation for purchasers and lessees of ICI properties and deals with a number of factors that call for attention when you're involved with the non-residential real estate market.
It also provides links to several databases of currently available broker and private listings of industrial, commercial, and investment properties. Together, they cover an extensive range of property types and locations throughout North America and in different countries around the world.
You'll find the site at http://www.iciniagara.com and you can use its pages to directly e-mail me for complete details and/or to arrange a viewing of any listing that appeals to you.

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Additional search engine and directory listings include

Google  /  Sympatico  /  Yahoo  /  Open Directory Project
Internet Directory of Real Estate Professionals
  SearchSight Directory 
Canada Real Estate Directory  /  Universal Real Estate Directory
City Wide Pages St. Catharines /  Proudly Canadian Business Directory
Premier Directory / SeekOn/Niagara-on-the-Lake

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And now for something entirely different ...

It helps to have a sense of humour if you're in the real estate business -- and if you're involved in developing and maintaining a website.
As a complete change from all you've seen/read so far, you can, if you wish, take a look at  My In Tray.

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Acknowledgements, permission, and disclaimer

• A number of the photos used in this website are the copyright (and used with the permission) of WebGraphicsZone.com and iStockPhoto.com.
• The copyright to this web site as a whole is claimed and retained by me as its author, but permission is hereby granted for you to print out and/or distribute the site in its entirety or in part(s), provided that due acknowledgement of my authorship is included.
• The opinions expressed in this web site are primarily mine and, to a large degree, reflect conditions in the Niagara Peninsula -- at least as I see them -- rather than elsewhere.  They do not, however, necessarily conform with the views held by some of my colleagues in the real estate industry.

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(Last updated March 2008)