Brief History

 

For the past twenty five years or so home buyers have had two kinds of agents they could use to buy a home, buyers agents or sellers agents. The problem was that very few home buyers knew that buyers agents

were available. Traditional real estate agents were taught to make the best of this confusion and as a result most home buyers thought the agent showing them homes represented them. In fact, the agents were legally

obligated to represent the sellers unless there was a written agreement with the home buyer to represent them.

 

This confusion about the roles of the real estate agents is one of the major reasons the public has such a low opinion of the real estate industry. The Federal Trade Commission did a study of the real estate brokerage

industry in 1983 and determined that the vast majority of home buyers thought that the real estate agent showing them homes worked was working in their best interest. The vast majority was wrong! The FTC then

started putting pressure on the states to have real estate agents disclose in writting to consumers who they represent.

In the early nineties, most states adopted agency disclosure laws requiring real estate agents to finally tell consumers the truth about who they were working for. The National Association of REALTORS had long

been against buyer representation in the market place, but with the requirement that real estate agent now tell consumers the truth, the handwriting was on the wall. Few buyers would knowingly want to work with

agents that are working for the seller's best interests.

The NAR did a reversal and endorsed buyer agency as a alternative in 1993. In 1994 Michigan's agency disclosure law prompted the general manager of the area's largest real estate company to say "It's the single

most important change in real estate law in all my 19 years in real estate" It is a sad statement about the real estate industry that a law requiring agents to tell the truth can by itself be a tremendous change.

 

Now in Michigan most home buyers use some form of buyer's agent.

 

The real question for a home buyer is:

 

Do I want to use a part time buyer agent from a traditional office and expose myself to the dual agent double cross?

or

Do I want to use an exclusive buyer's agent and get 100% loyalty 100% of the time?

 

Would you like more information? You can contact us directly via email at manager@buyersagentannarbor.com or call our office at 734-662-6240.

5/25/99 734-662-6240 1900 W. Stadium, Suite A, Ann Arbor, MI 48103

Members of the Ann Arbor Board of Realtors, we are a real estate company serving home buyers in Washtenaw County, Livingston County, Northern Lenawee County, Western Wayne County in these communities: Ann Arbor, Belleville, Brighton, Canton, Chelsea, Clinton, Dexter, Manchester, Northville, Pinkney, Plymouth, Romulus, Saline, Tecumseh, Whitmore Lake, Van Buren, Ypsilanti. We look forward to serving You!