Do I Really Need A Buyers Agent? Do They Do Anything? Real Estate with Audra Lambert 2024!

Very, very good video. I have downloaded it for review again when we decide to move.

I do ask, what about new construction communities in which the builder takes care of everything. Is there a pitfall? Is there a need for a Buyer’s agent?

Do you recommend a buyer‘s agent at a new community on an unbuilt (design your own) home?

I used an agent to place an offer on land. They used a title company. My offer got accepted. Then I found out that the title company didn't even check on the utilities. MLS had the wrong info. When I called the city they told me no one inquired about the land or utilities. The title company wanted to hold my deposit. They didnt even do their due diligence. I said ok, I'll be sure to leave you a review. They then agreed to refund my money. Total losers. Thanks to them I learned that I do not need an agent to buy land. I'll still be doing my due diligence. Some people call themselves professionals, but they are noobs and still figuring it out. Those are the clowns that can really cost you a lot of money.

You're are state sanctioned leech.

I watched the entire video and am still not convinced that we need a buyer's agent.

1. In 2025, we can be our own buyer's agent and we can use that to our leverage.
2. Also, if the seller's agent wants to be a dual agent, guess who the seller's agent is going to want to win. Have you lost a bid and found the winning buyer and seller's agents are from the same office? Yep.
3. See the demand? - So we should spy the open house to see how much demand there is. Trust me, I've had buyer's agents, all they do is ask the seller's agent what demand looks like and they communicate that back to us.
4. Contract is difficult to understand? Throw the contract into a ChatGPT and discuss it together.

After the NAR ruling buyer's agents are no longer required to be paid by the seller's/listing agent. That means the buyer's agent will be paid by the buyer with funds outside of the mortgage that will add to the closing costs for the buyer? Also, in the scenario you mentioned with a buyer entering into a contract with the seller's agent is then entitled to a representation fee? Isn't dual agency illegal in some states? The seller's agent works for the seller, with their interests being the priority. Isn't the home buyer representing themselves? Why would the seller's agent be entitled to another commission by the would-be buyer?

90% of real estate agents couldn't spell fiduciary. 😮

The NAR Settlement says buyers do not have to use an agent. So telling them they have to sign a buyers agent agreement and pay you commission is a mis statement.

Are you an exclusive buyer agent?

Great presentation on current times of realtors perceptions of the market. Bless you!

I bought my second home. A new built, and I didn't need a realtor. I found the home myself and did all the footwork.

Isn’t the sellers realtor more motivated to help you? Considering their pay out doubled to 6%

In my opinion, a buyer’s agent just gets in the middle of negotiations.

When my husband and I bought our house in Northern California 10 years ago, our agent didn't do anything at all! We did everything ourselves from the beginning to the end. All he did was collecting his commission!

Well you frontloaded this in a way that makes me want to stop watching.

Most realtors are pretty useless..what i learned from this is to use a SMART, MATURE,EXPERIENCED realtor

A buyer can learn so so much from speaking directly to the listing agent. Many "clues" as to why the sellers are moving, job situations, home information, etc. It's frankly astonishing the information that the Selling agent will "spills the beans" on when you get to speak directly to them, information that is subtle and lost if you have to hear it from your buyer's agent.

Thanks for the video. We've used a buyer agent for our current house, made the whole process very simple. We're moving next year and have already found and interviewed our agent. So folks watching this take note, Audra is correct on all the points.

Do u not recommend having a selling agent also be your buyer agent. The one that helps u look for house

100 % ACT AS YOUR OWN BUYERS AGENT-AND IF THE SELLERS AGENT WONT WRITE THE DEAL-FOR ZERO FEE-PASS ON THE HOME-AND TELL THE OWNERS -REMEMBER AGENTS ARE JUST OVERPRICED DOOR OPENERS-IF YOUR NOT A HALF WIT YOU CAN NEGOITATE AS GOOD IF NOT BETTER THAN THE SELLERS AGENT-RMEMBER THEIR WORKING FOR THE SELLER NOT YOU-AND NEVER PAY MORE THAN 2% COMMISION TO BE SPLIT BETWEEN SELLER AND BUYERS AGENT-THEIR NOT WORTH 1 PENNY MORE BECAUSE TITLE COMPANY DOES ALL THE WORK

And you did not know anything at the time of making this video about NAR settlement and the lawsuit? Hmm? Are you MAGA?

So after she gets the listing she can now set on butt and wait for offers to come in‼

About as much as you now need an Uber job.

I liked another video of yours, but here I have to say I did do all the hard stuff in my buying transactions. I decided which bids to make. I also had an attorney in each transaction, the title attorney. That title attorney can tell me the process, with more expertise than a salesperson called a buyer's agent. If I were moving into a place with a HOA, I would read the CC&R's myself. Ability to get into lockboxed property is an advantage you have, access to an appraiser is another one, as long as you (or any other buyer's agent) is honest -- an issue I've usually had with realtors, who typically do everything to get to a close. You tell a nice story about telling a buyer not to raise their bid and maybe it's true -- but I've never been so lucky to have such a realtor, after all as you say "the coin" matters, really it's all that matters to them. Under current rules (or at least the recently expired ones, not sure if that's changed) buyer will have an agent anyway, even if it's the same as the seller's agent, who has even more incentive to get to a close because they get twice as much commission. The seller can flip that listing agent, who now has two clients, one who has money and can walk away, another who needs to sell and is locked into a listing contract, guess which one gets priority.

Informative but condescending.

Whoa she look like she could be Cameron Diaz younger sister cheek phones aren't as high but still coolness!!!

Some Realtors don't work hard my realtor worked her butt off
I ended up walking away in fear I couldn't pay we her 3% commission )NAR settlement)
Plus I'm not sure if I want a house and where I want to live Anymore
I decided eventually to not have realtor
Oversimplification but this is imma do 🤔 mayb if I still want to buy a house

1. Get a real estate attorney paralegal /if prior experience bonus if was a realtor then
At least paperwork will be done correctly and on time

2. Find the house in the future maybe the MLS will be made public
Drive around in the neighborhood see find it before it gets on the market


3. See the house get inspector get a offer get an appraisal etc lol not necessarily in that order but I hope you all get the point


4. Maybe the the listing agent will be happy no buyers agent because they don't have to split the commission they could get the full 6% or whatever they get


The key here is educate understand process if you have to hire a paralegal or attorney
Or pay a flat rate fee for maybe certain things the realtor does instead of just paying a percentage of the sell


5. Get information on how to negotiate the price/get comps even just asked around sometimes people will tell you things

Audra is HOT!

Here’s what you don’t need:
Buyers agent
Sellers agent
Broker

Here’s want you do need
2 men with brains
One interested in selling
One interested in buying

I don’t believe I need a buyer’s agent. Convince me otherwise if you can. I am a licensed attorney and I am a real estate investor. I buy properties in a very specific community. I have already purchased 15 properties in that community. I am an all-cash buyer, I have never taken out a loan to purchase any of these rental properties. With the experience I have reviewing closing documents and participating in the actual closings, and given the fact that I do not need an appraisal because I do not borrow money to purchase my properties, and given the fact that I am a licensed attorney and I fully understand every word of every document in every closing package I have ever signed, and given the fact that I am very familiar with the community where I purchase my rental properties, I’m fairly confident that I can proceed with my next rental property purchase without the assistance of a buyer‘s agent. In addition, I have zero emotional attachment to any rental property I am considering purchasing; the purchase decision is based exclusively on an algorithm that determines return on investment. I do not fall in love with properties, they are simply income – seeds that, once planted, put money in my pocket. For this reason, I always lowball the seller and sometimes that works. For this additional reason, I am confident that I do not need the assistance of a buyer’s agent. Am I missing anything?

MOST, not all, but most of these agents are absolutely CLUELESS! I have conversed with many, and most of the time, they know next to nothing. They can't answer my questions. Their standard reply is, "I'll have to ask someone". Unless we can clone Audra, it seems like a big waste of money with many of these "professionals". I'd rather use a good real estate attorney to help me. JMO.

Thanks for this information!

Asking a real estate agent whether you should buy a home right now is like to asking an alcoholic whether they think you should have a drink lol. Homes in my neighborhood that cost around $450k in sales in 2019 are now going for $800 to $950k. Every seller in my neighborhood is currently making a $350k profit. Simply unreal. In all honesty, deflation is what we require. The only other option is for many people to go bankrupt, which would also be bad for the economy. That is the only way to return to normal.

Stop selling the need for a buyers agent. Its not rocket sience. You need a good home inspector, an attorney to review the usual standard contract, and a good closing agent. The negotiations is the key to a good deal. The key is to be informed of the neighborhood prices and not to be afraid to make a low offer and work from there. Ive closed on homes that I have done most of the work and the realtor just collected his commission. I set up the inspector, kept in communication with the closing agent, picked up on errors on the closing statement that the realtor didn't, and frankly, I will never use a realtor again.

Most real estate markets world wide do not rely on buyers agents and while most have “buyers’ advocates” / buyers’ agents they are rarely used. The US system is generations outdated. I hear the “benefits” Audra mentions but those are not worth 3%. Even if a buyer sees a benefit in a buyers agent, those are mostly advice and recommendations related, not finding the property or inspecting them, listing agents in non buyer agent markets have listed their game and hold 3x weekly open for inspections so with that and the internet buyers can themselves find properties they like. Buyers advocates / agents should not cost more than 0.5% of price, that’s $3.5k on a $700k purchase or $7k on a $1.4m purchase - they don’t need to spend 10 hrs for that.

US agents need to get with the times and stop complaining that the outdated system they have enjoyed so far is no longer! Buyers do not need buyer agents, it’s a pre-historic system!

I buy and sell property for a living. I would never tie myself down with an exclusive buyers agency agreement, I want the right to buy someone’s pocket listing or directly from the owner if I want. I always do all the research anyway, a realtor has never found a property for me, they just write up the contracts like car salesmen.

I'd guess that most house buyers, especially first time, are totally ignorant about nearly every aspect of single family home ownership and mortgage sourcing/financing. It seems to me that the NRA rule changes have opened a market opportunity for large scale buyer representation. Right now, the listing agents have the power because they have the product. Maybe in the future, the Buyer's Agency will be able to trump the listing agents by controlling the buyer marketplace. Some inventive person just needs to figure out how to arrange the financing of the front end Agency service for the new home-owner. Something to think about. Happy Day!

Always pay for expertise. Do yourself a favor.

Do you recommend working with backup lenders every time for the buyer?

Let's be real people. Back in the day we never had buyer's agent's or seller's agents. Agents for the buyers or sellers have not been regulated like banking or insurance industries. All of you have been running unregulated and self-policed for years. Now you have all of these compliance issues and now you're the victims in the transaction. In short were going back to the way it used to be just being a real estate agent.

I’ve bought five homes in 4 major metro areas. All my buyers agents said to offer more than I did, or risk losing the deal. I refused, and got a better deal. It was an in the phone fight with all of them. Read Freakonomics. I was also shocked how little education the buyers agent provided to me their client. Chat GPT 4o will give you EVERYTHING you need to proceed without a buyer agent. I will still user sellers agent but ‘see ya ‘ buyers agent. 1.5mm agent on their way to 500k. These agents have zero clue what ChatGPT means to their business. Again, I couldn’t believe how little education 4 different buyers agents did to educate their sellers.

very good information

You’d be the only buyer agent I’ve seen in the last 4 years that were advising your clients not to offer over a certain amount. Every buyers agent I’ve tried has seemed like they were more the sellers second agent! 😂

You don’t need a buyer’s agent ! Use the NAR settlement to leverage lower commissions and a lower purchase price. 2.5% of. $2M home is $50K. For what ? If I’m buying or selling a million dollar + home there is no way to justify those commission levels !

You are an agent who truly works for her clients. When I bought my home years ago, my buyer broker did not warn me about things I did not know about my neighbor hood, and I’m sure she did. (If I had grown up here, I would have known, its common knowledge to locals). Specifically, sewer pipe issues and tree roots in the neighborhood. At the time of my first problem, the sewer company said “oh yeah, that neighborhood is our bread & butter”😡. I wish I had known. I would have paid for additional inspections of the line for credits back.

They are selling houses in my neighborhood and listing them as No HOA or CCRs, which is not true. The builder never followed through with the HOA that we signed off on. The buyers agents are not doing their homework. I see big problems coming for these buyers who are buying and are signing off on CCRs that apparently they are unaware of. They have not been enforced yet. What did they pay the agent for? These buyers are breaking rules left and right and don’t even believe me when I say there are CCRs in the neighborhood. At closing, buyers just sign whatever with their eyes glazed over. Should get interesting.

Sure, buyers need an agent and the buyer should pay their agent, not the seller. Giving 6% to paper pushers is too much on a seller and it needs to end. Realtors are overpaid for their one semester course.

NEVER sign a buyer's agent agreement unless you have worked with the agent previously or have vetted them thoroughly with references. FEW buyer's agents are as qualified as you. Good luck finding someone. In my lifetime of property sales, I have found two that represented, advocated, and actually had negotiation skills. I loved them and refer them many years later. That's 2 out of 20. Sad. It seems the new canned mantra I am hearing from agents is, "I don't want you to waste my time." From both listing and buyer's agents. Unfathomable. I am not looking for a new friend or a hobby. I can't think of any business that has made this this low level of bad customer service part of its culture.

If you listen to the reason why buyer's agent and why you need them, it's not something most buyers need to pay 10's of grand for. I've sold and bought my past houses many times and, yes they are useless in most cases. I think they can be of help with some new buyers who aren't informed properly. But the service is still over-priced.