In some areas, there are more people looking to purchase a home than properties for sale. It can be time consuming to buy a home and this makes purchasing a home difficult for busy people, more so if they live outside the area. A buying agent finds a suitable home for homebuyers. A buyer’s agent is like an estate agent that works for the buyer rather than the seller. Buyer’s agents are common in the US, Australia, Canada and several European countries but are rare in the UK. In Ireland, Liz O’Kane is a buyer’s agent that works from an estate agent but acting strictly for buyers. She has only about two clients a month so can devote time to finding the best property. Buyer’s agents can handle all the house purchase negotiations. If a client wants to move into a new home before selling their old one, the agent can advise them on obtaining a bridging loan and refer them to a bridging finance broker. Buyer’s agents research properties and visit them to take photos, which they send to their clients. They charge a small fee upfront, then a percentage of the property price when a suitable home has been found for their clients. Occasionally a client will purchase a home without visiting it because they trust the skills of the buyer’s agent. Buyer’s agent Margaret Penrose said:
“We are here for the people who either don’t want to do the work themselves or can’t.”
