"Some home builders are so desperate to attract interest they are offering agents the chance to win Louis Vuitton handbags or Super Bowl tickets with round-trip airfare, if their clients buy a home."
That seems like a serious conflict of interests.
That seems like a serious conflict of interests.
That said, of course there is a group of agents who sweep problems under the rug to close. In my experience, there is a higher than average amount of agents like this among the top producers. But the group is not that big.
For any piece of real estate, there's basically a price at which it would sell itself. People hire a real estate agent because they believe the agent will work to sell for more than that base price.
In my experience, both real estate agents represent the buyer as it is the buyer who is supplying the money. Your closing attorney is the professional more likely to represent your interests.
To ensure you've got someone who is truly on your side as the buyer, maybe it'd make sense for your agent to be paid for services as consumed. E.g. $50 for doing a private showing, $200 for putting together the first offer and $70 for subsequent offers.
Does the buyer's agent in the US handle the role of a conveyancer in sorting paperwork of the final sale?
In UK only seller has an agent and fees are 1-2%.
I've actually heard/read of a few boutique style agencies taking this approach in LA. Will dig around the history and update this post if I find the blog post talking about it.