Advice regarding buying and selling in neighborhoods where 1 or 2 realtors have 80% of the listings

[Anonymous]

My subject line says it all. In the neighborhoods we are interested in 2 agents from different companies hold a lion's share of the listings. They also have well-liked and reputable buyer's agents associated which each firm. Would you use one of the agents associated with the listing agents to buy in these neighborhoods? I can't help but be worried about conflicts of interest and am wondering how to mitigate. What do you all think?

[Anonymous]

Really, no one? Bump.

[Anonymous]

I think you sort of have to go with one of those agents - it's not that you can't pick another but then again if there are mulitple contracts and your agent isn't a "preferred" agent or one they know or one they are afraid of...they will likely not present it in a good way to the seller and may evern persuade the seller against it.

[Anonymous]

In picking a buyers agent, I would first look into agents I had worked with before (and like) and any agents recommended by family.

If I didn't have any good references, I would probably check out the buyers agents with those two firms to see if there was one that was a good fit for me. Even though the buyers agents are in the same office as the listing agent, I'd expect and trust them to be looking after me. If the person is indeed "reputable", there shouldn't be any problems.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if you are looking in my neighborhood! The same 2 people seem to list almost all of the houses that go on the market. We, however, went with an agent that we knew through contacts at my DH's work. We really liked and trusted him. I think it worked out for the best because when we ran across a few issues he didn't have any issues with standing up for us and going after what he could for us. If he was buddy-buddy with the listing agent, I have a feeling we wouldn't have gotten the deal that we did.

I also understand pp's points though, so you should look at how it could affect you and decide what's the best strategy.

[Anonymous]

If you need a buyer's agent, I would get someone you like in the same general firm. So if you notice that the two different agents that have those listings are Long and Foster, get a L&F agent you like, but it doesn't need to be one of those agents. If you needed a seller's agent, I'd strongly consider getting one of those agents, but for a buyer's agent, I don't think it matters as much and you don't want to have your buyer's agent be the same as the seller's.

[Anonymous]

If you're looking for a buyer's agent and you go with one of the two, you may get some good tips on houses that are about to be put on the market. On the flip side, your buyer's agent may also be the selling agent, which could be very awkward.

[Anonymous]

I see no benefit to using the same company, or going with a different company. A buyers agent, no matter what the company, represents you and your interests. Legally, there are things they cannot disclose to the seller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you're looking for a buyer's agent and you go with one of the two, you may get some good tips on houses that are about to be put on the market. On the flip side, your buyer's agent may also be the selling agent, which could be very awkward.

We used the "neighborhood" agent and it was the best thing we ever did. She has been inside almost every house in the neighborhood and knows them like nobody else (she even grew up in the neighborhood). We knew the house we bought was going on the market about a month before it went on. That gave us time to get our financing and everything in order in advance (we were sort of passively looking before that). We toured the house before it went on the market because our agent was friends with the sellers, so we knew we wanted it as soon as it went on and we knew to pass on another house a few weeks before that we might have otherwise bought. We put in an offer as soon as it went on the market. There was a bidding war, that we won because we were comfortable waiving inspection (our agent had sold the house a few years before and it had been inspected then -- and we knew what the issues were) and appraisal (because our agent knew the comps so well, we were sure it would appraise and we had wiggle room is it was a few thousand off). I highly recommend going with the neighborhood agent as long as you trust her/him and can work together well.

[Anonymous]

We used the "neighborhood" agent and it was the best thing we ever did. She has been inside almost every house in the neighborhood and knows them like nobody else (she even grew up in the neighborhood). We knew the house we bought was going on the market about a month before it went on. That gave us time to get our financing and everything in order in advance (we were sort of passively looking before that). We toured the house before it went on the market because our agent was friends with the sellers, so we knew we wanted it as soon as it went on and we knew to pass on another house a few weeks before that we might have otherwise bought. We put in an offer as soon as it went on the market. There was a bidding war, that we won because we were comfortable waiving inspection (our agent had sold the house a few years before and it had been inspected then -- and we knew what the issues were) and appraisal (because our agent knew the comps so well, we were sure it would appraise and we had wiggle room is it was a few thousand off). I highly recommend going with the neighborhood agent as long as you trust her/him and can work together well.

I'm glad this worked out for you but you were very lucky. Waiving an inspection and appraisal because you just looove the realtor and she had been in the neighborhood forever is insane. This easily could have gone the other way. Its like saying ' I went swimming in the piranha invested section of the Amazon but didn't get bitten' so I highly recommend it for your next family vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We used the "neighborhood" agent and it was the best thing we ever did. She has been inside almost every house in the neighborhood and knows them like nobody else (she even grew up in the neighborhood). We knew the house we bought was going on the market about a month before it went on. That gave us time to get our financing and everything in order in advance (we were sort of passively looking before that). We toured the house before it went on the market because our agent was friends with the sellers, so we knew we wanted it as soon as it went on and we knew to pass on another house a few weeks before that we might have otherwise bought. We put in an offer as soon as it went on the market. There was a bidding war, that we won because we were comfortable waiving inspection (our agent had sold the house a few years before and it had been inspected then -- and we knew what the issues were) and appraisal (because our agent knew the comps so well, we were sure it would appraise and we had wiggle room is it was a few thousand off). I highly recommend going with the neighborhood agent as long as you trust her/him and can work together well.

I'm glad this worked out for you but you were very lucky. Waiving an inspection and appraisal because you just looove the realtor and she had been in the neighborhood forever is insane. This easily could have gone the other way. Its like saying ' I went swimming in the piranha invested section of the Amazon but didn't get bitten' so I highly recommend it for your next family vacation.

I'm the PP you quoted. I think you misquoted me a bit. We did not waive inspection and appraisal because we "loooved" the realtor. It was a calculated risk (yes, a risk). We had seen the inspection report from 3 years prior because she had been involved in the sale and had a copy. We knew (because we looked and the owners had told us) that the major items from that report had been fixed. Sure, there could have been a new major item that had come up in the past 3 years, so it was a risk, but we took it with some knowledge. As for the appraisal, because our realtor (and we) were so familiar with the neighborhood, we knew the house was underpriced (the people were relocating through a company and the company put constraints on the price). We also had enough money to cover if there was an appraisal problem (one had just sold a month before and we knew ours would appraise for at least that amount so we knew how much of a cushion we needed to have in case it didn't appraise). Had we not had a realtor who knew the particular house an the comps -- not to mention the sellers who had to choose between buyers -- we would not have gotten the house. I was by no means recommending that others waive inspection and appraisal because they are using the neighborhood realtor. I was merely recounting why it worked out for us -- in our particular situation.