Possible for Shoppers to Buy Houses on their Own Without the Help of Agents

After many years of caution the buyers of residences are no longer sitting on the fence but wading into the housing market, testing the waters. But surprisingly this time they are venturing forth on their own without the help of any agent.

It has been the conventional practice of home shoppers to take the help of realtors who showcase the properties and helps in bargaining and thus counterbalancing the agent of the seller. But today less numbers of buyers are taking their help.

According to National Association of Realtors’ report in 2010, only 57% of the house shoppers took the help of agents. In 2006 and 2009 it was 64% and 62% respectively. 37% of the shoppers say that they got their first information about the house they bought from the agents. A decade ago the proportion was 50%.

Pundits think the trend is not good whether buying or selling property. In reality the agents for the buyer and the seller split the fees and this means the buyer never had to pay anything to the realtor.

The agent of the buyer can gain access to the price data over the years studying the market data of the area. This means the agent can chalk out a strategy for bidding. Professor John Vogel of Tuck School of Business (Dartmouth College) thought that it was “a mistake” to go through the procedure alone without help.

There are many reasons why the buyers are representing themselves. The relevant details like listings of properties, its details, median sales price of the locality, the time a property has been in the market and how many cuts in prices there have been are all available online – something that was not there couple of years previously.

Since the agents of the shoppers do not get their fees until a house has been bought, they have a good reason to see something is purchased quickly. As such why should they tell the shopper to wait for the prices to fall?

The shoppers also think that the agent working for them is actually representing the interests of the buyer. Paul Howard having a buyers-only broker’s license in New Jersey and Pennsylvania said that this is a common mistake. The bottom line is that the “agents are fighting for their commissions” said Ginger Wilcox of Trulia.com. She gives training to agents dealing with buying and selling of property.