Imagine that, for the past several weekends, you've been working with a real estate agent to find and purchase the perfect house.
You and your agent have developed a warm rapport after spending so much time together and exchanging the inevitable personal information necessary to find the right home.
Then, you find the house. Since you've built such a great relationship with your Realtor, you think he'll aggressively represent you to the best of his ability when finalizing the purchase. Right?
Well, not exactly.
Legislation recently passed by the General Assembly would require agents to offer confidentiality to a buyer. But unless there is a formal written agreement between a buyer and the agent, the agent could still have the seller's best interest at heart.
But the rapidly growing field of buyer brokers -- also called buyer representatives or buyer agents -- is quickly leveling the playing field and making almost everyone, including most seller agents, happier.
"It's very difficult to show houses every weekend, getting to know the people in the car, and very difficult when the buyers say, 'Oh, I really love this house,' and you know you're going to have to get the highest price for the seller," says Debbi Rivero, a Realtor and Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR) with Coldwell Banker Grempler Realty Inc.
Rivero's not the only one to feel that way.
Merrill Ottwein, president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA), said, "I was never comfortable carrying water for two masters, and I had conscience problems with the old system."
"Buyers really should use a buyer's broker," said Gil Marsiglia, president of Gilbert D. Marsiglia Co. and president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors. "Otherwise the Realtor's allegiance is to the seller."
Some real estate agents prefer to work only with buyers, and Ottwein's membership is made up of about 500 agents who have chosen not to take listings and to work exclusively for buyers.
"Consumers really love buyer brokers, and many consumers feel they have been deceived all these years," Ottwein said. "In one study, more than 70 percent of homebuyers thought the Realtors were representing them, rather than the seller.
"Once the consumer understands he has an option, he really prefers it."
Considering the complications of buying a home, buyer brokers, which number between 3,000 and 4,000 in the nation, are expected to become more popular.
