The following  is an adaptation of an article written by Jay Reifert--Broker/Owner of Excel-Exclusive Buyer Agency -- Madison Wisconsin.

Now try to view this as the Buyer.                                                           What is in your best interest?

There's a revolution going on in the way people buy homes today, ranging from the growing popularity and utility of the Internet--more specifically the World Wide Web--to the increased number of options available with financing, such as no-money/low-money down loans, to the changes in the types of representation that agents offer to buyers in the real estate transaction.

Everyone has to live somewhere.  It's a simple, basic fact.  For some, life-styles or financial considerations lead them down the path toward apartment life.  While many of these people would never consider any other way of living, most folks have a great yearning for something more.  A yearning for a place that they not only can call home, but for that place that truly is their home.

Getting to that place, whether it be your first home or your fifth, requires planning, focus and almost invariably will involve the services of a professional real estate agent.

Once you've decided to investigate the possibility of buying a home, or stepping up to a different home, the first and most critical decision you will have to face is, "How do I find the right agent"?

You must understand this: NOT ALL AGENTS ARE CREATED EQUAL.

In general, there are essentially four types of agents.  The first two are listing agents and subagents.  As a buyer, you should be aware that these "traditional" agents have a legal obligation to loyally work toward getting the highest price and best possible terms for the sellers.

It used to be that these were the only types of agents with whom buyers could work.  Fortunately, times have changed.  Back around 1992, a third type of agent had emerged and has since then become accepted.  This third type of agent is known as the buyer's agent.  (In the absence of a written agreement between a buyer and a buyer's agent--not to be confused with the state-mandated agency disclosure form--buyers are either working with a listing agent or a subagent.)

The principal difference between the buyer's agent and all other agents is that a buyer's agent has a legal obligation to loyally work toward getting the buyer the lowest price at the best possible terms.   Everything that the buyer's agent does, except in one particular--and frequently occurring--circumstance, must be performed with the intention of creating the maximum benefit possible for the buyer client.

This one exception occurs when the buyer's agent has requested, and been given, contractual permission by their buyer client, at the outset of the relationship, to transition into what is known as a dual agent--which also happens to be the fourth and final kind of agent.

With dual agency, also known as "multiple representation," the buyer client agrees at the outset of the relationship to allow their buyer's agent to stop representing their best interests, if they wish to purchase ANY home listed by their buyer agent's COMPANY.  When this happens, both the seller and the buyer have lost their advocacy in the transaction and the agent simply acts as an intermediary in the negotiations, prohibited by law from giving either party advice that would be detrimental to the other party.

What makes dual agency most troublesome, is that you--as a buyer--can never adequately judge how likely it is that the home you may want to buy may be listed, or become listed, by the company that is acting as your buyer's agent.  Factually speaking, the bigger the Company for which your buyer's agent works--including all the satellite offices within that company--the more likely that you will be thrust into a dual agency situation and thus lose your advocacy.

Fortunately, there is a way to receive buyer agency services, receive full access to the real estate marketplace and NEVER have to worry about the possibility of being drawn into a dual agency situation and that is to retain the services of a specialized type of buyer's agent called the EXCLUSIVE buyer's agent.

Exclusive buyer agents do not list houses, which means that they NEVER represent sellers, so there is absolutely NO possibility of a buyer losing their representation due to the risk of dual agency.  Exclusive buyer agents provide 100% homebuyer representation, 100% of the time.

Some of the other benefits that accrue to buyers who use buyer agents, as opposed to buyers who are simply customers of traditional seller agents, appear in the paragraphs below.  This list, though not all-inclusive, does illustrate many of the prime differences between buyer agents and all other types of agents.

• There is no additional cost for using a buyer's agent over any other type of agent.  Ordinarily, the buyer's agent is compensated through the transaction in the same fashion as any other cooperating broker who has brought a buyer to the property.
• Using a buyer's agent may very well save you money.  A study by U.S. Sprint (the long distance company) found that "232 relocating Sprint employees who hired buyer's brokers paid an average of 91 percent of a home's list price.  People who used traditional agents typically paid about 96 percent.  On a house originally priced at $150,000, that's a difference of $7,500." (Money Magazine, April 1993.)
• Besides those properties that are listed on a Multiple Listing Service, buyer agents can seek out and represent their clients on For Sale By Owner, Bank-Owned, and any other type of property.  A buyer's agent can even contact every owner in a particular neighborhood that interests the buyer client, to inquire whether or not the owner may be willing to allow the buyer-client to view the potential seller's unlisted home.
• When viewing homes, one of the buyer agent's obligations is to go beyond mere disclosure of adverse factors relating to these homes and/or neighborhoods, to offering advice to the buyer on how these factors may impact upon future resale or relate to the buyer's current needs or desires.
• A buyer's agent will provide their buyer client with a market value analysis, prior to that buyer making an offer on a particular home, so that the buyer will have their agent's professional, written opinion on the value of that home.
• When drafting offers, counter-offers or engaging in other negotiations, the buyer's agent must always be focused on loyally advancing the best interests of the buyer.

In essence, everything that the exclusive buyer's agent does, must ALWAYS be geared toward creating the maximum benefit possible, for the buyer client.

All of this could lead some sellers to believe that buyer agents have a goal of creating a disadvantage for sellers, when all the buyer's agent is attempting to do is to provide for their buyer clients, the same type of representation that has always been available to sellers through traditional real estate agents.  Buyer agents seek to level the playing field.

As consumers become more aware of the options that are available to them when it comes to real estate agents, it would not be surprising to see them seek out the best listing agent that they could find to represent them in the sale of their present home, while seeking out and utilizing the services of the best exclusive buyer's agent they can find to help them secure their next home, thus protecting and hopefully increasing their household net worth.

The bottom line in all of this is that homebuyers have many more choices than they've ever had before, and that one of those choices that is becoming ever more prevalent, popular and profitable for buyers, is buyer agency.