Don’t ever forget the fact that real state is simply another synonym for a salesman. Their one and only mission is to sell, sell, sell to YOU. Don’t ever make it obvious that you are in a desperate situation, or that you need to immediately pay some bills and you are trying to sell the house because of that , or that you are in a rush to move in to the new house because your boss is transferring you to another location . The realtor should not be aware of all those personal details and to them , you are not in a rush to buy a house.
If your Pennsylvania real estate agent’s commission is based on the price of a house you are about to buy , you cannot guarantee that the agent as a sincere interest in help you and your family . The only way to be sure of that is to actually pay a large fee to a real buyer’s agent who does not get a percentage of the selling price . Just to play it safe , never mention to anyone else specially to the realtor how high you are willing and able to go. By law the seller’s real estate agent has a fiduciary responsibility to the seller, and they will mention to the seller everything you say , so you almost have to pretend you are being interrogated by the police . The first thing the agent will do is ask you how high you are willing to go on the house . Be very careful with this trick . Just give them the price you want to pay for the house and if they ask how high you are willing to go, tell them you are staying with the same price . If you are a home buyer , don’t think your real estate agent is “going in to do bargain on your behalf” with the seller’s agent. That’s just like your car salesman “going to get his manager’s approval ” on your offer for a new car.
If you are buying a house instead of selling a house, in theory you don’t need a realtor . For a lot of home buyers, the only purpose a real estate agent serves is to get the buyer past the guard at a gated community, or to unlock the key to the seller’s empty house from the lock box on the front door. All these things can be done by your property attorney including the closing and escrow . But if you know you have a great Pennsylvania Real Estate Agent who will tenaciously hunt down houses matching your criteria , it can save you a lot of time. But remember that you do still need a good property attorney, and no matter what you do , don’t let your real estate agent choose your property attorney. You need to pick your own property attorney .
