Is Hiring A Buyer's Agent Worth It?

Buyer's agents, real estate professionals that represent the buyer in a real estate transaction, they're growing in popularity. However, buyer's agents still only make up a small proportion of the real estate agent pool, but this number is growing. So, what is all the fuss about anyway? Is hiring a buyer's agent worth it? We'll look at the pros and cons, but first let's look at what they actually do?

What does a buyer's agent do?

Using a buyer's agent pros and cons

Pros
There are many advantages of utilising a buyer's agent. Here are some of the main ones.

• Access off market properties - buyer's agents have a network of local sellers" agents they can tap into to source properties before they even hit the mainstream market and are advertised online. Furthermore, if your property criteria are narrow enough the buyer's agent may even do some cold outreach on your behalf giving you more opportunities to find your ideal property
• Save money. In addition to cutting edge industry research property valuation tools, buyers agents have local knowledge and expertise of their local property market which helps them to estimate the value of a property consistently and accurately. Using a buyer's agent ensure you won't unknowingly be overpaying for a property.
• Get local insight. A good buyer's agent will know suburbs in and outs, what schools are desirable, why homes are cheaper in one section of town. All these local insights closely tied to how they impact property prices. That's why it's important to work with a buyer's agent who works in a specific local area instead of a generalist who works across an entire city. For example, if you're wanting to buy in the Mornington Peninsula you would want to engage a local Mornington Peninsula buyer's agent instead of one based in a neighbouring city.
• Save time No more searching online and attending open homes on your weekends. Enjoy your life, work hard, and play hard and let a professional do the dirty work whilst you focus on better things
• Stress free - having a professional find the ideal property for you means you don't have to worry about haggling or the mind games and sales tactics of dodgy sales agents. Let an experienced professional fight your case as you would let a professional lawyer represent you in a court of law.
  

Cons
Now let's look at some of the cons of using a buyer's agent.

Cost
This is the most obvious one. Hiring a professional to do the work will typically cost you from a couple hundred dollars to a few tens of thousands of dollars, depending upon what you require them to do in addition to their pricing structure.

Many buyer's agents can be engaged for specific tasks e.g. negotiation only, or auction bidding only. For example, if you've already found a property you wish to purchase but the idea of negotiating makes you feel queasy or you know you're too emotionally attached and there's a good chance you'll lose your head if the property goes to auction you can utilise a buyers agents services for a fixed task often for a fixed rate.

For regular search to settlement arrangements buyers typically pay a commission to a buyer agent. The commission varies considerably between agents. It is usually a percentage of the total amount of the property purchased, however some also operate on a fixed price model.

Conclusion
Whether a buyer's agent is worth it or not is up to you to decide. Your unique situation, your skills, experience, available time in addition to the local real estate market you're looking at entering will all play a part in determining whether engaging a buyer's agent is worth it for you. Hopefully, this article can help you make the decision a little easier for you.