What is the difference between a real estate agent and a real estate broker?
Most states require real estate sales professionals to be licensed by the state, so that they can control education and experience requirements and have a central authority to resolve consumer problems.
The terminology used to identify real estate professionals varies a little from state to state. Brokers are generally required to have more education and experience than real estate salespersons or agents.
The person you normally deal with is a real estate agent or salesperson. The salesperson is licensed by the state, but must work for a broker. All listings are placed in the broker's name, not the salesperson's.
A broker can deal directly with home buyers and sellers, or can have a staff of salespersons or agents working for him or her.
What is a buyers agent, what does this specifically do for a buyer and who usually pays this "buyers agent"?
On most transactions, there is usually a listing agent and a selling agent. The selling agent is sometimes referred to in media as the buyer's agent, because he works on the buyer's behalf and it easier than explaining each time that the "selling agent" is not the listing agent and is actually the buyer's agent.
However...
There are some agents that market themselves as "buyer's agents," "exclusive buyer's agents," buyer's representatives," and so on. Mostly it is just marketing. At the same time, part of it is because they want to accentuate the reasons a buyer should not go directly to the listing agent when they purchase real estate. This has to do with agency.
See, if a buyer goes directly to the listing agent, they are dealing with an agent that has conflicting responsibilities. Their job is to get a good price for the seller and they may not zealously represent the interests of the buyer. Those who market themselves as "Buyer's Agents" indicate they are only working for the buyer in a real estate transaction.
The commission is still paid by the seller, no matter what they say in their marketing (with extremely rare exceptions). They either get paid directly by the seller or set up the transaction so that the seller provides a "credit" to the buyer for how much the real estate commission is -- then the buyer pays the commission.
Like a Realtor I once knew said, "No matter how it is set up, the buyer still walks away with the house and the seller still walks away with 94% of the purchase price."
I looked at a property yesterday with a realtor who quite obviously has no clue what he is doing. I really want to purchase that house, but don't want the hassle of working with an agent who doesn't know his business. Can I switch agents and still buy that house?
If you want to purchase that property, the only ethical thing is to purchase it through that Realtor. Otherwise, you could set up potential conflicts between your previous agent and whatever new agent you may choose.
You see, if your previous agent finds out you purchased the home with a new agent, he may want to claim all or a portion of you new agent's commission. This could develop into a "battle royale" involving real estate agents, offices, managers, brokers, and attorneys.
You may be able to resolve the issue by letting your current agent know you have misgivings about their expertise and ask if a more experienced Realtor from his office can be aboard as your advisor, too.
That is the only ethical way I can think of to handle your situation. It isn't "your" ethics I mean, but the ethics of the two agents. One agent isn't supposed to make an offer on a property you have already previewed with anotheragent. It happens, but it isn't ethical without some sort of disclosure and agreement between the parties.
Why should I use a Realtor to sell my home instead doing it myself on a FSBO ( For sale by owner basis ) ?
Many homeowners think that doing a "For sale by owner" deal with their homes will save them some money on commisions. THats not exactly it. First of all, a FSBO ( For sale by owner) doesnt have the marketing tools or acces to the MLS * Multiple Listing Service that helps brokers promote their listings, then the marketing of their home will only be done with out door signs and some craigslist ads, and in some cases with ads on newspapers ( sometihing that will drasticly reduce the difference of supposed profit by doing the sale as a FSBO.
Then, most of the real buyers use a Real Estate Agent, and that will inforce the seller to take into account at least halve of the commision to be paid to the buyer's agent, if its the case, but in most of the cases, brokers with buyers will evade FSBO property like evading trouble, so a FSBO property will definetly have a lot less exposure.
Then when pricing the property, unless guided by a realtor sending a Free CMA ( competitive market analisys) to the seller to get the listing, a seller usually will overprice the property meaning that the property will not sale soon, unless is a unique 'out of this world" property that all human souls in town will see it and appreciate it.
Lossing time in Real Estate means losing money, a month with out the sale is a month of mortgage payment, insurance payment, loss of productivity due to a far away home location from work, and many other reasons, At the end according to a studty available thru the Realtor's website, 90% of FSBO owners turn to an agent after 60 days on the market strugling to sale ther dwellings.
How much a Buyer agent cost me if I am a Buyer?
If you intend to buy a home, you must have a buyer agent, it will not cost you a dime. All the payments to a buyer agent come from the listing agent, meaning that the home owner when make the listing of his home, include the buyer's agent commision on the gross commision, and then comes the commision split. When you do not use a buyer's agent, dont you even think about asking a price reduction due to that since legally, the commision for a buyer agent is a coop fee, meaning that is due to the buyer agent from the listing ( Seller's agent ) not from the property owner that is selling, and if you as buyer do not have an agent, the seller's agent will collect a "Double end commision" meaning that he or she will get all and nobody will be on your side to see all the details related to the transaction, nobody will fight for you for the fair price, the property condition, advantages for you and so on, that an experienced realtor can do.
