Top Rules for Home Buyers Working with Real Estate Agents

Congratulations! You've selected your real estate agent of choice, now before you hit the road to begin house hunting you have a few more things to do. The first few tips below address those early items, then we get onto the meat and potatoes of the purchase.

1. Make your expectations clear—from how you want to communicate with your agent, to who will be making the final decision on what property to purchase. It is helpful to make sure those expectations are communicated in writing so there is no confusion in the future about what they were.
   
   You may have already done this while negotiating the buyer broker agreement, but there will be details the agreement hasn’t covered. If you will need your agent to pick you up from a location for showings, discuss those details with your agent and make arrangements in advance. Otherwise, the real estate agent may assume you’ll meet them at their office or property you are scheduled to see.
   
   When establishing communication preferences, let your real estate agent know what your preferences for the ways you would like to receive communications—be it phone, text, email, or whatever—make it clear what you prefer. Establish a desired frequency of those communications as well or other preferences you have for communications.
2. Discuss your goals and the time frame for achieving them with your agent, but be reasonable—you can’t expect to ask to see a property immediately. Some notice and scheduling is reasonable, courteous, and to be expected. Don’t be afraid to let the REALTOR® know if you’re dissatisfied with their communication, services, or any other aspect of your interactions. Remember, this is a business relationship and your agent is a professional—they can’t serve your needs, or meet (or exceed) your expectations without your honest feedback.
3. Keep appointments and be on time. This is simply common courtesy no matter who you’re dealing with, but your agent may be a very busy person for whom your consideration is especially important and appreciated. It is also important to keep appointments that are scheduled. Be sure to call your agent if you are running late—don’t leave them hanging. Many agents will stop waiting after about 15 minutes if they don’t hear from you.
   
   Being “stood up” for an appointment is all too common for real estate agents. That wasted time makes it more difficult for the real estate agent to pursue your interests and that of other clients—especially if it leads them to doubt your commitment to the process and to the agent being your representative. Remember their compensation is usually commission-based, so all expenses come out of their own pockets until they get paid at closing. Be respectful of their experience, professionalism, and expertise—they still choose whether they want to work with you.
4. Planning to attend open houses? Ask your agent if it’s appropriate for you to attend open houses at all. Assuming you get the okay, always give your agent’s business card to the agent hosting the open house, or if you are required to sign-in to the open house, upon arrival, be sure to use your agent's name and contact information rather than your own. This serves a dual purpose—it allows you to avoid any agency conflicts in your representation, and the open house agent won't call you.
   
   Another tip: Don’t pump the agent hosting the open house for information about the seller and the seller’s intentions. It’s your buyer’s agent’s role to seek that information so write your questions down and ask your agent to get any information they can on your behalf. Remember—the key here is to know the rules for home buyers working with real estate agents!
5. Never call a listing agent directly if you’re already working with a buyer’s agent. It’s the buyer’s agent’s job to interact with listing agents—let your agent do their job. That way, you won’t be asking a listing agent to enter into a situation that involves a conflict of interest or to otherwise behave unethically. Creating a situation where your chosen real estate agent may not be able to represent you isn’t your goal.
6. Real estate agents work on commission. If you happen to encounter a real estate unicorn—one who works for a salary, that’s probably not the one you want to represent you. Examples of the salaried agent situation are typically found with new construction sites. The builders employ those “agents” and are not always required to be licensed real estate sales people when they work for the Seller who is also the builder and owner. Tricky, tricky! 
7. Finally... you’ve found the one for you, and you are ready to buy. It’s time to have that mortgage approval ready to go! Most real estate agents will require you to have a mortgage pre-approval prior to taking you to see properties—not because they want you to buy right away but for everyone's safety. To get a pre-approval a lender runs credit, checks incomes, and state (or federal) issued identification documents, so the agent knows you are who you say you are, and your intentions are clear and documented. You wouldn’t want some “rando” in your house if you were a seller, would you?
   
   Having a mortgage approval ready to go at offer time makes your offer stronger and your negotiating position even better. Don’t forget to bring your checkbook with you “just in case” it’s the day you find the house. There is typically no “contract” for a real estate purchase that is valid without some form of consideration—that’s where an earnest money deposit or escrow deposit comes into play in the form of your check.

Ultimately, using a real estate agent is to your advantage and your best interest. Real estate agents transact real estate every day so they’re well versed experts and professionals with extensive experience in all aspects of a real estate transaction. They are able to anticipate, prepare, or avoid most potential problems or pitfalls in the process.

We hope you found these best (and top) rules for home buyers working with real estate agents to be helpful. Which rule, tip or fact did you find the most interesting? Surprising? Enlightening? Let us know! Otherwise, if you have any questions about the process which we didn't answer in the post, please feel free to leave a comment and we'll do our best to get you the answer you need!