Charlotte Buyers Agents - Exclusive or Not?

Here's my little story of when I relocated to Charlotte North Carolina some years ago.  My father who really keeps up on things recommended I use a "buyers agent".  Did I listen?  Nope!!  What I decided to do was flip through the pages of one of the home magazines and pick the hottest agent I could find to show us properties.  I would not suggest this method especially if you are married lol. This agent worked for one of the larger national franchises.

On arrival to Charlotte we met this agent and were quickly informed she would not be showing us properties.  We would be going out with her brand new "buyers agent" to view homes.  Great!! At least Dad would be happy we were working with a buyers agent.  In hindsight,  the first clue that things weren't going right is that 80% of the homes we viewed were their company listings.  We only had one weekend to find a home and to make an offer and get a contract done.  We found a very nice home on Sunday and guess which firm listed the property??  The funny thing is I didn't even know at this point.....really wasn't paying any attention to the realtor signs in the front yards of these homes.

So we cruise on over to the office to get going on the contract.  We are going through the forms yaddyyaddy and my "buyers agent" is doing his best to explain all the different forms etc (later found out it was one of his first times)  Finally he get's to the dual agency form and explains how the firm will be representing both parties?? Huh? He told me not to worry that he was still my buyers agent. Ok whatever.....let's get this thing done.  We did purchase that home and most everything went off without a hitch besides having to move the sellers out  AFTER closing.  Really could have used a hand with that from my buyers agent since he was the person who didn't have time for a final walk - thru.

This was my experience moving to Charlotte which I didn't think was that bad at the time.  A few months after my relocation I decided to pursue a career in real estate.  Looking at the sale of the home I purchased I found out the following.....that I had overpaid significantly!! Ouch! Actually by the time I got licensed into the business my "buyers agent" was quitting. Here are some of the keypoints of my experience:

• Paid more for the property than what it was worth.
• Poor representation.
• Same firm made 100% of all the commission.
• Same firm represented both parties.

Does this happen often to families buying property? Yes.  Many of my current and past clients use our services after some other agent has tried to show them only company listings or worse yet their own listings.  Most consumers do not know the difference between a buyers agent and an exclusive buyers agent.  Actually, I've met numerous real estate agents who have no clue about Naeba and also don't understand exclusive buyer agency. Most so called "buyers agents" haven't even gone to the trouble of getting their ABR designation which is a whopping 2-day class. We could go over the advantages all day long on using an exclusive buyers agent. If you are coming to town you need to work with a top notch Charlotte Real Estate Agent who understands exclusive buyer agency and will protect your best interests without any possibility of conflict. Best of luck!

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