What Does a Real Estate Agent Do for a Buyer?

Buying a home is an exciting time, and you may be thinking about immersing yourself in it by buying a house without a real estate agent. After all, there are plenty of online listing platforms and DIY advice for you to go it alone.

If you’re wondering, “What does a real estate agent do for the buyer,” this guide might help. Below, we review the services a real estate agent provides and how they can save you time, money, and stress. Having an agent may make more of a difference than you think!

Helping You Through the Buying Process

The process of buying a home involves numerous steps: getting a mortgage preapproval, attending showings, comparing properties, making offers, negotiating pricing and conditions, arranging inspections, and closing the deal. Unless you have considerable experience buying houses, the process can be time-consuming and confusing. In addition, it’s an emotional process where you can easily make decisions with your heart instead of your head.

A real estate buyer agent can help you understand each stage of the process, get everything in order and on track, and keep you focused on your goal. In addition, they serve as your advocate, so you know they have your best interests in mind, and they perform an important function as a sounding board and an emotional support human.

Finding Properties That Match Your Needs

Real estate agents can set up property searches through MLS that are customized to your needs and preferences, and they can alert you to new listings faster than public sites.

Real estate agents are also intimately familiar with different neighborhoods and little pockets within your search area. Those features are not always obvious from online listings. A buyer agent can tell you about the special features of different neighborhoods, such as their character, their history, and how long current residents have lived there. These insights can be invaluable if you’re searching for a home that matches your lifestyle.

Setting up showings is one of the core functions of a buyer agent. They will often pick you up in their vehicle and drive you around to different showings so you can concentrate on what the area looks like and save time by going to back-to-back showings. At the showing, your agent will give you their honest opinion about the home, the appropriateness of the list price, and whether the house suits your needs and meets your homeownership goals.

Negotiating an Offer

Negotiating an offer yourself is fraught: you are emotionally invested in the process, whereas your real estate agent can keep a cooler head and stay focused on what is in your best interest.

Negotiations can go back and forth a few times, which can be stressful and tiring. Real estate agents are accustomed to this process and will always get the best outcome for you.

Handling Offer-Related Issues

Conditions, inspections, and closing dates all need to be negotiated and dealt with as part of the process of reaching an agreement on your offer. Your buyer agent takes care of all of these and keeps you informed about the process.

Managing the Paperwork

Buying a house involves a great deal of paperwork, and it can be easy to miss something or make a mistake. If you’re wondering, “What does a real estate agent do for the buyer,” checking the paperwork and keeping it organized is one of the things you may not be aware of because it happens behind the scenes.

Supervising the Closing

Closing day is exciting and very busy. There are numerous tasks that need to be completed in a particular order, not to mention large sums of money being exchanged. Along with the seller agent, the buyer agent ensures that everything goes to plan and resolves any problems or disputes that might occur.

Connecting You with Other Professionals

Real estate agents know everyone. If you need a real estate lawyer, a mover, an inspector, a contractor, or another professional or tradesperson to help with your move or work that needs to be done on your new home, your real estate agent will recommend trusted people in your area. This can save you time and stress, especially if you’re moving to a new city.

Can You Buy a House Without a Real Estate Agent?

You can buy a house without an agent. However, you should be aware of the risks and the extra work that you will need to do. You may miss out on desirable properties in great areas, you’ll need to handle all the negotiations and paperwork yourself, and you could make costly mistakes in the process.

Need a more detailed answer to the question, “What does a real estate agent do for the buyer?” Contact one of the experienced real estate agents at RE/MAX. We’re happy to fill in the blanks!