Protect your Dream Home Purchase by using The Welcome Home Team as YOUR Buyer's Agent! 

Moving to Ohio? If you are relocating to the great state of Ohio, you need to be aware of Agency Laws in Ohio. Each state has different laws that tell you about the kind of relationship you can have with a real estate agent. This is called "representation." If you are moving to the Miami Valley communities of Beavercreek, Kettering, Springboro we would be happy to represent you and your best interest in the purchase of your next home.  

In Ohio, one of the first documents you will be given and asked to sign by a real estate agent is the state required “Consumer Guide To Agency Relationship.” This document explains the various relationships you can choose to have with a real estate licensee. 

In many other states and in Ohio’s not so distant past, all real estate agents would have been working for the home owner or seller, in just about all cases. In the past, every agent had a “fiduciary responsibility” (or obligation of allegiance) to the seller, regardless if whether the agent was instrumental in bringing the buyer to the right home. That is no longer the case in Ohio. 

In 1996, an Ohio Bill, titled Ohio House Bill 354 was passed which gave potential home buyers the option of equal representation with a real estate agent representing their best interest in the transaction. This new relationship is call “Buyer Representation” or simply a “Buyer’s Agent.” 

As described in the above-mentioned consumer guide, "In [a buyer’s agency] relationship, a buyer’s agent and the brokerage owe the buyer the duties of loyalty, obedience, confidentiality, accounting, and reasonable skill and care in performing their duties and any other duties contained in an agency agreement. The agent and brokerage are required to act solely on behalf of the buyer’s interests to seek the best price and terms for the buyer. Finally, a buyer’s agent and brokerage also have a duty to disclose to the buyer all material information obtained from the seller or from any other source." 

What does all of this mean to you, the homebuyer? As previously noted, several years ago, the real estate agent you were working with would have considered himself or herself a subagent for the seller. As such, he or she had the duty to inform the seller of any pertinent information he or she had concerning the sale. 

Let’s give you an example from the past: 

A nice house is for sale for $100,000. You decide to offer $95,000 but tell the agent you’ve been qualified for $106,000 and would go as high as the asking price of $100,000. In the past, the real estate agent had a duty to inform the seller of your financial situation and what you said you would be willing to pay. 

An example from today in Ohio: 

In the same scenario as above, today the agent, if he/she were your Buyer’s Agent, the agent would be working for you and your best interests, and he or she would have no duty to disclose your strategy and, in fact, would offer advice on how to further sweeten the deal in your favor. 

Other ways that the buyer’s agent can assist the buyer in getting the best possible deal includes such suggested things as negotiating for a smaller earnest money deposit, for some or all closing costs to be paid by the seller, for the seller to pay for a home warranty for the buyer, or for other contract terms most favorable to the buyer. 

The types of services buyer’s agents offer typically are not different from those provided by seller’s agents -- they are just provided from a different perspective. 

The Welcome Home Team is available to represent you as Your Buyer’s Agents. In Ohio, to be represented by a Buyer’s Agent does not cost you. Here is how that works: 

What you need to know is that a Realtor working as your "Buyer's Agent" is paid by the "Listing Brokerage." The home owner has an agreement with the "Listing/Seller's Realtor and Brokerage" that states a commission of certain percentage of the purchase price will be paid to the Listing Company when their home sells. Through the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS), that "Listing Agent" has an agreement to pay a "Buyer's Agent" a portion of that commission if a "Buyer's Agent" brings a buyer to purchase the house. So regardless of whether you use a Realtor or not, the home seller pays the same amount of commission. So if you use a Buyer’s Agent the purchase price is the same and buyer representation has cost you no more. 

So let Don & Cyndi Shurts help you getting into your next dream home.