Buyers

Every state is different but in Colorado, an agent that has a listing agreement with a seller to promote their property for sale represents the seller and only the seller. They are hired to maximize the seller's position, not yours. How you interact with a listing agent can dramatically impact your negotiation position. Identifying a strong representation of your position leads to a better outcome for you as a buyer. Even if you've found a property, there's still a lot of work involved in completing the transaction, from inspections to negotiations and closing. We can ensure everything goes smoothly, and that your interests are protected. For buyers, we have a 240-point checklist for each file. Finding a home is just one.

Buyer’s representation is quite comprehensive and involves ongoing communication, being extremely proactive, problem-solving, troubleshooting, double and triple checking, following up, and assuming nothing is as it has been purported to be. Buyers don’t know what they don’t know and those who don’t have representation often find themselves in a problem or situation that can have serious financial implications.

Buying a property without representation is like playing a game of chess without knowing the rules. Every property and seller is different and brings about a unique set of issues to that property which can affect the entire transaction.

There are so many complexities, from the kind of financing the buyer is doing to the kind of property they are buying and how the transaction is structured. Hidden costs and fees are a risk at every turn with a property from HOA dues, special assessments, unknown repair issues, hidden damage, and the list goes on.

A seller’s personal situation can also affect the transaction such as a legal separation, divorce, death, or medical issues if they are still living in the home. Tenant-occupied homes present inherent risks that the buyer is exposing themselves to if purchasing a property that has a tenant living in it and/or who intends to continue occupying it as a rental property after closing.

A buyer’s agent works to be the champion of all things for the buyer, shepherding them through what is the single largest transaction they will likely ever make in their lifetime, whether that is a $300,000 home or a $30 million one.

I work with clients throughout the Denver Metro area and beyond. I have transaction history and neighborhood expertise from as North as Boulder through as South as Castle Rock, to as West as Evergreen, and as East as Aurora.

View my transaction map here: https://mckinzecasey.com/sellers

There is a fee involved with buyer representation. If you hire someone to work on your behalf, you are engaging them to get their expertise. Every buyer agent sets their own fee based on their competence level and the value they bring to the table. Just like a sports agent, attorney, or design consultant, there is a fee involved with the guidance they offer.

However, historically in the vast majority of cases, the seller offers a buyer agent a success fee for bringing a qualified buyer to the home resulting in a successful closing for all parties. This generally covers the fee a buyer agent has in their engagement agreement.

In rare cases, a seller looks to save money by not offering to pay a buyer's representative. If a buyer is pursuing a home where this is the case, the buyer either 1) allows their agent to request this fee be paid by the seller in their offer or 2) the buyer covers the fee independently. It is all negotiable.

Advice is not free. Over two decades of experience allows our clients to efficiently succeed at their goals. Coupled with education, there is continuing advice, consultation and insight about a plethora of all things real estate from the moment we engage with our clients. As a buyer, there will be questions, questions and more questions including lots of:

• “What do you know about this property?”
• “What do you think about the price/the area/neighborhood?”
• “Is this a good investment?”
• “How much are the HOA or condo dues?”
• “What do the HOA rules say about parking in the driveway or the street?”
• “How many pets can I have?”
• “Can I put up a fence?”

Our industry has very low barriers to entry. Our industry has also been glorified by endless shiny Netflix shows featuring a lifestyle that does not reflect the reality of the industry. It is your responsibility as a consumer to not just "work with your friend" but to identify a professional who is just that, a professional. Not just someone who dabbles in the business. In reality, we are bound by ethical and legal obligations to represent your interests. Furthermore, experience is the architect of success. In the world of real estate brokerage, there is a 95% attrition rate. Those in the industry for longer than 5 years generally bring the best value. Find someone who is in the top 1% and you are dealing with the best of the best. They have efficiencies, processes, a client base, a list of referable vendors, a legal team, and a reputation to uphold as they are career agents, not hobbyists.

A buyer’s agent who is well respected and a highly regarded professional to work with has clout with listing agents and can help put transactions together for their buyer.

In some cases, who the agent is matters more when faced with a sea of competing offers and because of that agent’s professionalism and reputation, a buyer’s offer that may not be as strong as others can be selected to work with.

When it comes to solving problems, again, relationships matter. The agent who has trusted connections with various service providers to help solve problems in a pinch for their buyer client is worth their weight in gold. When the listing agent and seller have long checked out or created a sloppy or stressful buying experience based on their handling (or lack thereof) of various issues, the buyer’s agent typically has to come to the rescue to make all things right.

We can guide you through the complex process, provide insights, and help you avoid costly mistakes. We have an entire onboarding process specifically to help you understand what is coming and how to be strategic. There are many unknown hurdles that can be avoided with someone who has done this thousands of times.

The strategy from A-Z is incredibly important. Where to look, when to look, how to look, when to offer, how to offer, what to offer. These are all factors in the overall strategy that we help with. Strategies are continually adjusted based on the market environment. Having an agent with their "ear to the ground" allows you to capitalize on micro market opportunities.

Offer preparation is a critical part of buyer representation. It is extremely important that we review all the details that need to be completed as part of the offer process and ensure all flow logically with contract timelines and contingencies. This is detail-oriented work that must be precise. Failure to include something, accidentally omitting something, or overlooking a contingency that needed to be included could have serious consequences. From the downpayment to the amount financed (if applicable), timeframes for financing, appraisal, and inspection contingencies as well as any other specific requests are critical to establishing a clear roadmap to work from at the beginning of the transaction.

Negotiation is a huge part of the buyer representation process. Working out all the details and differences between a buyer and seller to establish the terms of the transaction is critical. The way your agent presents your offer, your position, themselves, how they communicate, how prepared and professional they are, their reputation in the industry, etc are all incredibly important to get you where you want to go.

Managing a transaction is often like herding cats. While we have phenomenal support for paperwork management by our back-end team, I take the bull by the horns to ensure everyone in the transaction is doing their job and handling their respective responsibilities.

We never assume all is okay and everyone is doing what they are supposed to do. We ensure that the buyer’s deposit has been provided in a timely manner to the title or escrow company, inspections are scheduled in a timely manner, the buyer is working on getting all required documentation to the lender (if not already provided), has paid for the appraisal and is working to secure insurance all upon going under contract.

In Colorado, closing occurs at a title office with a qualified Title Company. The company hired to manage the closing is selected by the seller and the title commitment is paid for by the seller. It is important for your agent to know if this is a qualified company as this company will manage the formal process of transferring ownership to you. Your agent can tell you if this is a qualified team or a discount/limited protection team where consumer experience can vary.

Buyers might question why certain information is being requested, such as their Social Security Number, copy of trust documents, or photo IDs. In today’s fraud-ridden environment, with suspicious emails appearing to trap unsuspecting buyers, sellers, and agents into clicking a link or opening an attachment purporting to be a settlement statement, the buyer’s agent needs to help vet and verify who the providers will be in the transaction.

In addition, it is critically important for the buyer’s agent to confirm that they have the correct copy of all contract documentation and related addenda, confirm the sales price and other details, such as any seller-paid closing cost credits to the buyer, as well as make sure they are aware of any changes to the transaction as things progress, such as a price change or seller providing credits to the buyer in lieu of repairs.

If a home warranty is being provided to the buyer at closing, they need to ensure that this information has also been provided to the closing office and any other details as well.

In the event of any questions or discrepancies, this will allow time to have all corrected. The buyer should not be seeing the settlement statement for the first time right before closing and the listing agent should not be relied upon to ensure all is correct.

In other words, it is the buyer’s agent’s responsibility to hover over all the communication and details with the title and escrow companies to ensure all is correctly accounted for before going to closing.

This is often one of the most significant milestones in the transaction and can take several hours and days to complete, depending on the number of specialists the buyer wishes to have to check the home and property. A general home inspection assessment may generate the need for numerous additional inspections, so the race is on to find the appropriate people who can come out to the property to evaluate the issue(s) within the contractual timeframe allotted to complete the inspections.

While this may sound easy enough, contractors and various specialists are not on the “anytime,” “all the time” schedule that a real estate agent is. If you’ve ever tried to get a repair person out at a critical time, you know what I am referring to.

This can be an extremely stressful part of the transaction. Buyers rarely buy a home and are not around inspection and repair issues on a routine basis the way their agent is. With a plethora of reports and assessments comes trying to make sense of it all.

Many issues may look alarming, understandably, to a buyer who doesn’t have much familiarity with these kinds of issues.

• How much will things cost to repair?
• What issues are the most critical and what issues (if any) could wait?
• Is there any hidden damage that could be discovered once repair work starts that could result in significantly more costs?
• What should a buyer ask for from the seller?
• Should they ask for repairs to be made, a price reduction, credit towards closing costs, or some combination thereof?

Along with having to assist with obtaining estimates from various contractors, we manage the negotiation with the sellers to remedy. We are helping to coordinate communications with all these various people for the buyer as the reality is that most buyers simply don’t know who and where to turn for answers and information; in a transaction situation, they need these answers quickly.

Sellers will often want to obtain their own estimates for whatever repair issues are being asked of them, so the process can drag on for quite a bit of time while all of this information is being gathered to work out an acceptable solution.

If repairs are going to be made, the agent must hover over that process, following up with the listing agent to ensure all has been completed along with providing receipts from those making the repairs. If the documentation is not easy to understand or is unclear, the buyer’s agent has to go back and forth with the listing agent to get clarity.

Furthermore, a buyer’s agent often encourages their buyer to have their inspector or other specialists reinspect all repairs to ensure they were done correctly prior to closing. This process in and of itself can become a “thing,” especially if requested items were missed or not done correctly.

The agent working with the buyer needs to ensure the appraisal is turned around promptly to comply with financing and appraisal contingency timelines in the contract.

Sometimes, it can take forever for the appraiser to go out to the property, and it seems like it is taking longer than usual to turn the report around for whatever reason. This is where the buyer’s agent must micromanage this process so as not to jeopardize the buyer’s escrow deposit.

Should the appraisal report come back with a valuation or condition issue that needs to be addressed, the buyer’s agent must dive in to assess what is going on and determine what is needed to help resolve the issue. The clock is ticking and an extension on the buyer’s financing and/or appraisal contingency may be needed.

The seller’s agent won’t care if the timeframe for these kinds of contingencies runs out as they just want to get the transaction closed. Worst case, they look at the situation as their seller will get the buyer’s binder deposit if they are in default and cannot move forward.

The buyer’s agent is the one watching out for the buyer with every aspect of this because if an issue arises with the appraisal that cannot be resolved, they want to ensure the buyer can get their deposit back as part of the cancellation of the transaction process.

Any veteran advisor knows walkthroughs are ripe for a plethora of new issues to arise. Whether it is a seller who:

• is still moving out
• has left the property a mess
• put garbage and unwanted items in the garage
• cut the power off which caused ice cubes in the freezer to melt and the ice bin to be full of water
• let the lawn and landscaping go before closing
• stopped pool service two weeks before closing, causing the pool to turn green
• caused a host of move-out damage issues including carpet stains, scratched or chipped floors, drywall dings

this now becomes the buyer’s agent’s battle to fight.

Miracles often must be worked at the 11th hour as the agent is frantically sending photos of the evidence to the listing agent and trying to run down estimates to clean, fix, or repair the damage. Some issues cannot be easily fixed, such as a floor being scratched, chipped, or, if it is a lower quality luxury vinyl plank flooring product, ripped when movers are careless while moving furniture pieces.

Some listing agents simply shrug their shoulders and say “too bad, so sad.” The buyer is irate and does not want to close with the property in that condition, despite whatever disclaimers may be in the purchase agreement.

With everyone’s back to the wall and the pressure on, the buyer’s agent has to figure out a way to make it right.

On closing day, the buyer’s agent needs to ensure that all keys and access cards or fobs to neighborhood amenities, garage remotes, security and garage codes as well as any other specific information about things in the property are provided to the buyer and that the listing agent has removed the lockbox and signage accordingly. Sometimes things go missing at the 11th hour and the buyer’s agent must spring into action to hold the listing agent accountable to get what is needed or figure out a solution to address them if they are missing. Buyers cannot rely on listing agents to ensure that all will be left in good order.

Depending on how the walkthrough went and if any issues were uncovered, the buyer’s agent needs to make sure all has been addressed before the buyer signs documents and, if not, a last-minute plan may need to be hatched for this.

The stress doesn’t often end at closing. Buyers move into their new homes only to discover that something may not be working properly. Thankfully, an inspection report documents what was and was not functioning as of a particular date/time. However, a slew of issues may seem to come up that may be just a stroke of bad luck.

The first person the buyer often calls is their agent as their “911” who they look to for help and advice. Their agent often knows just who to call to help the buyer through whatever challenges are happening.

As the buyer gets settled in, their mind will turn to all sorts of home improvement projects, and they will lean on their agent for trusted vendors and service providers to assist them with making the home their own. In some cases, the lawn they thought they would be able to tackle themselves becomes too time-consuming so they once again will lean on their agent to provide a trusted lawn provider to help.