Why would an EBA (Exclusive Buyer’s Agent) listed home be 17 times less likely to be in foreclosure than a listing by a traditional real estate agent who could potentially represent both the buyer and the seller?
One reason could be that there is no conflict of interest if you are only representing the buyer. As a realtor or real estate agent, if you represent a seller, and you have people who are also looking to buy a home, you might pair those two parties together. Most times in a real estate contract the way an agent gets paid is through a commission fee for around 6% of the sale price. So for a $400,000 sale price of a house, if an agent brokers the deal as the listing and the buying agent, then they can double their revenue.
But what about their fiduciary responsibility to their client (now who was the client first was it the seller or the buyer)?
As a seller’s agent your job is to get them as high of a purchase price, in as fast of a time period as possible.
As a buyer’s agent your job is to get the house for the lowest cost. Notice the dilemma there?
The 17% numbers can represent this dilemma. Agents could possibly trying to drive up the total sale price of the home, and not acting in the best interest of the buying party. As the buying party would end up being the one who would be foreclosed upon.
These numbers were brought to national attention based on an old study published in Consumers Report.
” Consumer Reports states, “You can find a true buyer’s agent only at a firm that does not accept listings.”[17] The advantages of using an Exclusive Buyer Agent is that they avoid conflicts of interest by working in the best interests of the buyer and not the seller, avoid homes and neighborhoods likely to fare poorly in the marketplace, ensure the buyer does not unknowingly overpay for a property, fully inform the buyer of adverse conditions, encourage the buyer to make offers based on true value instead of list price, and work to save the buyer money. A buyer agency firm commissioned a study that found EBA purchased homes were 17 times less likely to go into foreclosure.”
We put together a list of other publications that reference this report as well:
- http://whidbey-buyers-realty.com/buyer-agent-headlines/
- https://www.msrealtycourses.com/how-much-do-real-estate-agents-make/
- https://www.wrightrealtors.com/real_estate_broker.htm
- https://www.msrealtyinstitute.com/steps-toward-brokers-license/
