FOR BUYERS
Our comprehensive Buyer Guide will help you learn about the buying a home in the DC area. It includes advice on what to look for in an agent, what to ask your lender, how to think about your priorities, and a step-by-step guide of the purchase process.
You can access the full report further below.
Why You Should Have a Buyer Agent
Buying a house is likely the largest investment you’ll ever make. It’s also a decision that impacts your daily quality of life. You might not know what you don’t know.
Save time and money, lower stress: Having an experienced, licensed professional to help you can not only save you time and money, it can make the process more enjoyable. The agent is knowledgeable about all parts of the buying process and will act as your guide, so getting in touch early, before you have found that perfect home, will help you get the best results.
Discover more properties: If your agent is with Compass, you will get early and sometimes exclusive access to more properties than are visible on public websites.
Be on top of the market: The real estate market in DC moves fast! Are you ready? Do you know how to strategize in a competition? While everyone can see plenty of homes for sale online, unless you are a professional agent, it isn’t easy to be fully aware of momentum and what could impact your price or offer. A strong buyer’s agent will have the up-to-date knowledge that you need.
The listing agent works for the seller: The listing agent’s job is to represent the seller’s financial interests throughout the transaction, and not yours. If you are not a real estate expert, the professional agent and their client likely have an unfair advantage. The agent is required to be truthful and ethical but they do not represent you and they cannot discuss pricing strategy with you.
You may be paying for it anyway: A buyer agent commission is built into the advertised price of most homes in the form of a sharing agreement among brokerage firms, whereby the listing brokerage shares its commission with the buyer agent’s firm. Sellers agree to this in advance of listing their home for sale and they are under contract for it. Sellers and brokerages allow for this because they know that a real estate professional on the buyer side will facilitate a smooth and successful transaction. It helps the seller market their home to more of the most prepared and motivated buyers. It is also potentially less costly to the seller than having a transaction fall through if an unrepresented buyer makes mistakes or does not truly understand the contract.
Buyer agency is a critical service: Good buyer agents provide tremendous value and can help protect you. Your agent will be dedicated to you and may spend many months working with you to explore options, home values, market trends, and so much more. It’s a relationship. You may need to write multiple offers. Or you may change your mind and never buy. By signing a buyer agency agreement, your agent becomes your fiduciary and has the right to show you all the homes in the Multiple Listing Service, even if they are from another brokerage. You are also giving your agent assurance that at some point, they will get paid a commission for their hard work if you buy a house.
Your Agent’s Primary Role
Act as a consultant and partner for your home purchase decision, helping you assess and reassess your priorities as you learn what is available in the market and what you can afford.
Help you build the strong “team” that you will need for a successful offer and transaction: local lender, title company, inspectors, and sometimes even contractors or architects. A great agent will help coordinate all the necessary players.
Advise you on recent market trends, pricing, momentum, contracts and the transaction process, to help you prepare for making an offer.
Advise on offer strategy and prepare your offer using specialized contracts developed by the best experts in local real estate law.
Point out potential issues that you may want to consider or investigate further with experts, based on the agent’s experience of looking at many homes. Your agent may see things that you have not considered, especially in the excitement of looking at a new house.
Negotiate on your behalf and advocate for your interest. You are always the decision-maker.
Manage the contract-to-close process, including scheduling inspections (general, radon, termite and more) and keeping track of your critical contract deadlines and to-do list.
Once you buy your house, your agent can also be a great resource for your move, improvements or repairs, and can help you settle into your new neighborhood.
What should an initial consultation with an agent cover?
In the process of choosing a realtor you’ll want to discuss your needs, your process together, your communication preferences, and the next steps.
Early consultation should cover some important questions:
What is your time frame for purchasing a new home?
Where do you want to live? We have a lot of neighborhood knowledge to share!
What are your priorities in a home and neighborhood? It’s usually an iterative process. We can help you clarify your priorities as we look at homes and neighborhoods together.
How much (if any) work would you like to put into improving a property? If you are buying with a partner, are you on the same page for these things?
Have you consulted your lender yet to know your real price range and to confirm that you can qualify? Your loan details are actually part of your contract and purchase negotiation. We can recommend excellent local lenders who know how fast the DC-area market moves and who understand how your loan can impact your contract promises. You need a banker who will advocate for you during the offer process.
To learn more download our Buyer Guide
Our goal is to help you find your dream home and guide you to confidently and successfully buy it.
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