how to purchase as an RE agent

Question

Hi all,

I am looking to make my first purchase after saving like crazy the past year.  I am looking to house hack, live in one unit and rent the others.  In the process of saving and scouring the market, I acquired my RE license to help facilitate this purchase and help make it the best, foundation-building investment that it can be.

The license for right now I just want to use as a tool to negotiate a lower purchase price, however, since this would be my first purchase as well, I am having a little trouble wrapping my head around being both the buyer and the buyer agent and how that might make things easier for the seller.  Im in MA and the market is on fire right now, so any advice on how this might be spun as an advantage for the seller or any potential pitfalls to watch for would be greatly appreciated!

Nick Foundas · Answer

Cameron Real Estate out of Wakefield is an investor friendly Brokerage and are always looking for Agents so you may want to try giving them a call. Tom Cafarella is the owner and you can find him on BiggerPockets

Nick Foundas · Answer

Hi Naoise, you mentioned you have your License but are you affiliated with a real estate office? If you have the license but arent working with an office then you wont be able to put your license to work and represent yourself.

If you are working with an agency then you can simply submit the offer as you normally would, representing yourself and best part is you just earned yourself a commission. If the house you want is a competitive situation and there may be multiple offers then you could try to incentivize the Seller and Sellers Agent by letting the Sellers Agent represent you. In a standard transaction the seller pays 5% commission (2.50% to Sellers Agent and 2.50% to Buyers Agent (you), but if you let the Sellers Agent represent you then maybe you could negotiate the Seller pay only 3 or 4% total commission (rather than 5%) (all goes to the Seller Agent) and you get the house and everyone wins. The seller pays a lower commission, the Seller Agent gets a larger commission and you get a house in a possible competitve situation.

Nick Foundas · Answer

Hi @Katherine Robbins Great to hear the Commonwealth name!  I'm an Agent out of the Century 21 Commonwealth Watertown office, sounds like you have a great office!

Katherine Robbins · Answer

Hi @Naoise M.

I got my license for the same purpose, to have the transactions stay all "in-house" if you will and not hire everything out. I find that it's more complicated when you are the seller representing yourself rather than the buyer. The buyside is pretty straight forward and to be honest, the sellers agent is the one facilitating the deal so all you have to do as the buyers agent is to just stay on top of your dates/deadlines and make you have the appropriate contracts in place. Make sure you're open and honest with the sellers agent and let them know you're licensed and will be representing yourself. As long as you are using an attorney that also understands your situation, you should be fine.

Like @Nick Foundas said, you'll need to hold your license with a brokerage in order to be considered the buyers agent for the transaction. You can't get paid the buyers commission if you don't have an affiliation with a company. I hold my license with Century 21 Commonwealth out of Newton and there are a ton of investor agents that work in the office. We are associated with one of the biggest developers in the area as well as the manager of the office being an investor herself. It's a great environment and everyone there is interesting in flipping and helping each other out. I love it.

Feel free to shoot me an email if you have any specific questions! I'm happy to help :)

Naoise M. · Answer

Yes definitely will be disclosed upfront.

I am not affiliated with an office yet, just got license finally this week, but I have been in contact with a few so far trying to find the right fit in terms of being able to make this first purchase my full priority and not any of the other responsibilities/distractions that come with being an agent right now.  So this is next on the check list.  If anyone knows or affiliated with any broker like this that would be great as well.

But thank you @Nick Foundas that is exactly the kind of win-win situation I am trying to create

Alex Deacon · Answer

@Naoise M. I buy homes every month as my own agent representing myself. Just treat it like a regular sale. dont complicate things. just make sure you disclose that you are a licensed agent in the agreement of sale.

how to purchase as an RE agent

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