What should you expect your broker or agent to do for you? The one word answer is: INFORMATION. You need to be informed to make good decision.
Before you hire your agent, find out if the agent has a firm understanding of a buyer’s needs, the market, properties available, financing and everything other aspect you can think of. Be sure to find out how well the agent communicates information. Sometimes people don’t respond promptly to e-mails or phone calls and in a real estate transaction where time is of the essence, this could lead to difficulty. Do not hire an agent unless you are confident the agent will inform you properly and on time.
After you hire your agent, your agent should give you a copy of the Representation Agreement. It can be an electronic file or hard copy. You can use the agreement to know the duties you and your agent have under the contract. It is like an employment contract. It outlines what the agent is going to do for you. The contract will provide clear and definite terms. Most often, both you and the agent will have duties. For example, if you’re hiring your agent to represent you to purchase a townhouse, the agent will have the duty to search for townhouses on your behalf and you would have the duty to respond to your agent and view the properties. The contract will emphasize the duties of the agent. If you’d like to see a blank contract before hiring the agent, that should not be a problem.
If you are selling a property, a good agent will not only market your property, or show you potential homes for sale, but provide an accounting of what the costs of the transaction will be, how much money you’ll get or how much money you’ll need. A good agent will guide you through a real estate transaction with correct information, correct accounting, an understanding of risks where there are unknown factors, and will act in your financial interest as if it were his or her own.