- The type of property the buyer seeks
- The length of time the agreement will be in effect
- The duties and responsibilities of a buyer's agent
- A commitment to protect the buyer's privacy
- The nature of the legal, ethical and fiduciary responsibilities of the agent
- How the agent is paid. (The buyer does not pay any fee for a buyer's agent.)
- The buyer acknowledges that they are not the client of another Broker.
- The agreement makes clear that we will not unlawfully discriminate against any prospective Seller
- The purpose and place of legal and tax counsel
- The agency agreement is governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia
- The agreement may contain additional provisions that might be unique to this particular relationship between the buyer and the agent
A buyer agent is a real estate agent that represents the buyer. A Listing Agent is an agent that represents the Seller. The buyer agent does not get paid to show homes to clients. A buyer agent only gets paid if the buyer contracts for and purchases a home.
Your buyer agent can show you one house or show you dozens of houses. Your buyer agent can work with you one day before writing an offer for you to purchase a home, or your agent can work with you for months. Often, a buyer agent will tour houses with their clients to get better understanding of what the client wants. The buyer's agent also does extensive research of the local real estate market. Once the buyer agent has identified a number of prospective purchases the agent follows up with phone calls to listing agents. The wise buyer's agent calls listing agent to learn details which my exclude some homes and bring other homes to the forefront.
After a buyer finds a home to purchase, the buyer agent works to prepare and present the offer, negotiate the contract. The agent attends to deadlines, inspections, appraisals, loan approval,o ordering title and so on. In order to perform these duties, the Commonwealth of Virginia requires the broker and prospective buyer sign a Buyer Agency Agreement. Some of the points addressed in that Agreement are: