Finding an Exclusive Buyer Agent in San Jose, CA.?

Question

Hi,

I am a first time home buyer in San Jose, CA. I have read few books and researched conclusion leads me to getting an Exclusive Buyer Agent is the best way to go.

I have asked my friends and colleagues about it, and no one I know have used such agents, so I am stuck finding one on my own.

I have looked at NAEBA (www.naeba.com), but here are my questions:

1. Are there other sites and or resources besides NAEBA that is good to search for an agent?

2. What usually are the pay structure? Is it a fixed fee? Are they negotiable?

3. Since NAEBA was founded in 1995, its only been around for 10 yrs or so, are there many around who is experienced enough?

Thanks for you help in advanced.

Answer 1

Real estate agents and REALTORS are very poorly trained.

I recommend that instead of a buyers agent, you hire an attorney who sepcializes in real estate law to write the language of your offfer and that you hire a real estate appraiser to give you a second opinion on the price of the house.

Your real estate appraiser should be a Member of The Appraisal Institute. (MAI designation)


Virtually all of the houses that are for sale are on the internet. You do not need an agent to find the house for you.

What you do with the attorney and the appraiser is that you tell them upfront that you are hiring them to protect your interests and to protect you from paying too much for the house.

Direct yur attorney to include language in your offer that makes it contingent on the appraised value as determined by your appraiser not the lender's appraiser.

The lender's appraiser will appraise high to ingratiate himself with the real estate agents so they will continue to send business to the bank and the appraiser.

When your appraiser determines that the fair market value of the house is less than the amount that you offered, you are to give the seller two choices:

1. Reduce the contract price to the fair market value as determined by your appraiser or...:

Note: Since you are represented by an attorney and not a real estate agent, the seller is saving the 3% of the purchase price that would have been paid to the real estate agent. I recommend that you also direct the seller to reduce the contract price by the additional 3% that he would have paid to your agent.

After all that 3% is your money. You are saving the seller that money by not using a real estate agent. Thereofre you should get that money in the form of anadditional price reduction of 3% less than the amount of the fair market value as determined by your appraiser.

2. Agree to cancel the contract and direct the escrow company to return your deposit.

Also have your attorney include language in the contract that makes the contract contingent on your approval of inspection reports.by your inspectors, not the seller's inspectors.

The inspection should be at least 21 days to give your inspectors ample time to inspect the property and write their reports. Do not let the listing agent try to shorten this period. Listing agents often try to shorten this period to 10 days or less. That does not giveyou adequate time to get your inspectors out to the property, make the inspectins, write the reports, give you time to review the reports and make decisons ablut what repairs are needed.

The inspections should include at a minimum an inspection of the roof, the chimney, the structure itself, the foundation the plumbing, heating and the electrical system. Also you need a termite report and an inspection for water damage and dry rot.

In San Jose and all over that area you need and inspection of the chimney by a masonry contractor because in San Jose many chimneys were broken in the 1989 earthquake and have never been repaired.

A broken chimney can permit hot gases from the fire to enter the attic and start a fire in the attic.

When the reports come back indiccating that repairs are needed again give the seller two choices:

1. Agree to hire a licensed contractor to make the repairs or further reduce the price of the house to compensate for the cost of the repairs. or...

2. Agree to cancel the contract and direct the escrow company to return your deposit to you.

I see the responder below does not agree with me and that is fine, I understand. Many people disagree with me. I have been very successful following the method that I have outlined for you.

I challenge those who disagree with me to show that they have been more successful than I have at purchasing pieces of property at true fair market value and not the inflated prices that the real estate agents think that you should pay.

I never use real estate agents to purchase property. I only use appraisers and attorneys.

I also know San Jose very well. I grew up there and purchased most of the property that I own in Cupertino, which is a town very close to San Jose. The method that I have developed works very well in San Jose.

You will find that the attorney and the appraiser will cost much less than the 3% the seller will pay the buyer's agent. Remember that I said to reduce the contract price to fair market value less the 3% the seller would have paid your agent.

On even a $600,000 house, that is $18,000. Your attorney and your appraiser will not charge you anywhere near that amount and your attorney and your appraiser will do a much better job of representing your interests than a buyer's real estate agent will.

For one thing a real estate agent, even if he is a buyer's agent will become very unhappy with you after you have cancelled several transactions because the seller would not agree to reduce his price to fair market value or would not agree to make needed repairs.

You will not have that problem with your attorney or your appraiser.

I realize that real estate agents think they know how to determine fair market value of a house, but they do not.

An appraiser who is a Member of The Appraisal Institute has far more rigorous training standards to meet than a real estate agent. There is extensive classroom training that the appraiser must complete and pass and then he must work for several years in a firm that is owned by a Member of The Appraisal Institute before he is even eligible to apply for the MAI designation.

A real estate appraiser who is a Member of The Appraisal Institute has far more expertise than any real estate agent with respect to determining the true fair market value of a piece of property.

Your attorney has far more training than a real estate agent with respect to the law and the language that a contract must contain to protect your interests.

The attorney must go to law school for at least 3 years after graduating from college and must pass a very rigorous bar exam.

A real estate agent only has to take a few classes online. The classes only take a few weeks. Then the real estate agent takes a relatively easy exam which really does not test his knowledge of law or valuation of a piece of property.

You get much better representation with the attorney and the real estate appraiser and they cost less if you follow my instructions and deduct the 3% fee that the seller would have paid youir real estate agent from the fair market value as determined by your appraiser that you pay for the property.
.

Answer 2

Exclusive Buyers agent is when you sign a contract with a REALTOR who you can only work with during the buying home process. So lets say you do not like this person after house hunting during the first week and you signed the contract. Well you could be either stuck with this person or this person's company until the contract is done. So yes although there are uneducated REALTORS in the area that do not understand what Exclusive is, well maybe that should be your first question when you talk with them. Also get email updates from a few REALTORS in the area you want. The email listings are first in your inbox before hitting the public webites three days later. Also Buyer's agents get paid by the Seller Agent. If you want a Lawyer that was stated above than get a REALTOR who is a Lawyer. Do not get Real Estate Lawyer its different and you will get treated different. Keep asking friends and family for referrals because if they were satisfied with the buying experience you probably will to.
Questions or concerns please email.

Answer 3

You can also try www.rebac.net, which is the National Association of Realtors' site for Accredited Buyer Representatives.

Most ABR's accept as a fee that portion of the listed property's commission which would normally go to a selling
agent.

There is no need to hire an attorney or an appraiser, as suggested above. A qualified buyer representative will give you the same information (using the same data bases) that a professional appraiser will give. Admittedly, some real estate agents are poorly trained, but to say that categorizes most of them is downright ludicrous. Find an agent who has some years of experience under the belt, and is thoroughly familiar with the market.

When you select an ABR, you will probably be asked to sign a buyer agency contract, which removes the agent from the position of representing the seller and puts the fiduciary responsibility upon the agent to represent the buyer and the buyer's interests.

NAEBA is apparently comprised of real estate agents who work ONLY as buyer representatives, while ABR's will work in either mode (seller rep or buyer rep)

I am an ABR myself, and I advise interviewing more than one ABR to develop a sense of comfort in that the agent will truly represent your interests. An interview costs nothing, of course.

Answer 4

These are the local realtor associations in our area (San Jose)

www.sccoar.org - Santa Clara County

www.silvar.org - Silicon Valley

www.bayeast.org - East Bay

www.samcar.org - Penninsula

You can find the agents - and you can find information for yourself on these sites.

For the state of California it is www.car.org - you can get some information there as well.

When you are ready to locate a home or just shop around you can go to www.mlslistings.com

Answer 5

Quick Learning School owner is serve the online pre licensing insurance and real estate crash course San Jose, California. Get best online insurance pre licensing course San Jose, California.

Answer 6

You did not say specifically when in AUG 2006; however, the least expensive flight BAR NONE is $625 R/T. Because August is right around the corner the airfare rates tend to be higher, as opposed to if you were leaving 60 or more days from now.