Do we need buyer agent as a first time home buyer?

When I first explore the idea of buying a house, I have visited mostly new home community, such as KB Home and Plute, and have no notion of getting an agent for myself. A big part of it is because new home builder does not deal with agent at all thus, there is no reason to look for one. From the time I started looking at existing home, this question surface again, whether I should look for a buyer's agent.

For those who has just started out, there is a different between a seller's agent and buyer's agent. As a buyer you have two options as listed below:

1. Look for a buyer's agent that would represent you throughout the process of purchasing a home

2. Have the seller's agent to represent you as well throughout the process of purchasing a home, where the agent is a dual agent

After thinking for a while, I still believe it is of greater benefit to someone buying a house to look for a buyer's agent to represent you. Here are reasons to support my choice:

1. As a seller's agent, their first priority is to look after the interest of the seller, that is to sell the house at the highest price possible. They might approach you to represent you as well (happens a lot at open houses I visited), no matter how friendly they are, the priority to look after the seller's interests will not change at all. Trust might be an issue in this case since you don't know whether information given to you is complete.

2. As a buyer's agent their main purpose is to look after the interest of the buyer. They have insider information about the current situation with the sale of the house which can be a benefit when you are putting in an offer, as to how much to offer, what sort of contigency to put down in the offer and etc. They can also advise you based on the professional experience what is a fair price of the house, what to look for when visiting an open house. They can help you filter out open houses based on your criteria so there is no need to go to every one of those open houses in the location you plan to buy.

Everyone has their own opinion on this topic. Thus, you would need to evaluate your situation and decide which option is best for you.

Questions to ask when visiting open house

When I first started visiting open house, normally I will just go in, walk around and ignore eye contact with the agent because all I want to do is take a look at the place. Another reason is because I am not sure what sort of question to ask other than those simple ones.

If you don't know what to ask, you can start off by listening when other people visiting the same open house is asking questions. After a couple more listening session at open houses and a little research, I learned a little what sort of questions to ask.

Here is a list of questions you can ask the next time you visit an open house:

(1) What is the school district? Even if you think you know it already, it does not hurt to re-confirm with the agent.

(2) Is the report for the house inspection ready? What are the major repairs listed in the house inspection?

(3) Does it requires any fumigation?

(4) What is the age of the roof? Replacing the roof might cost roughly additional 10k or more out of your pocket so it can be part of the decision factor as well.

(5) Who are the neighbours around the neighbourhood?

(6) Why is the owner selling the house? For those who are superstitious, it might make you feel better after knowing the actual reason why the owner plan to sell.

(7) Whether there is any other competition that the agent know who would be putting down offer?

(8) Also ask about the mechanical systems of the house, for example, plumbling, electrical wiring, etc? How old are they?

(9) How long as the house been on the market? To see how much you can bid for the house.

(10) Any update done to the property, like addition? If yes, is it done with permit or not?

(11) How old is the property?

(12) What are including in the sale of the house?

(13) Is there a HOA (Home Owner Assiociation) cost?

There might be other questions that you might want to ask. I hope the list above will help you jump start on what questions to ask next time you visit an open house.