Buyer Agents

On Your Side

Learn more about exclusive buyer agents

Friday, July 28, 2000 By Liz Poppens
Inman News Features

Exclusive buyer agents are an independent breed. For the past decade, these real estate agents who don’t accept listings and only work with buyers have been growing in number and reputation nationwide.

They also have been quick to embrace the Internet. The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents, the leading trade group for buyer agents, opened a Web site http://www.naeba.org in 1995, well before the rest of the real estate industry woke up to the power of online real estate.

Recently the association revamped its Web site, powering it up with a plethora of calculators and information for home buyers.

The site’s new offerings are an online extension of the association’s consumer inquiry program, which recently was given a national award by the American Society of Associations Executives.

"The program is designed to educate prospective home-buying consumers about their rights and how to make informed choices in the home-buying process," says Sue Weinstein, chairman of the association’s consumer inquiry committee.

The site includes questions to ask any prospective real estate agent, some of them pretty tough ("Can you show me any For Sale By Owner listings?"). It explains clearly and succinctly who represents whom in a transaction.

There are tips for buying homeowners insurance cheaply and getting rid of private mortgage insurance quickly. A hefty glossary is divided into three categories: real estate, mortgage and homeowners. The 16 calculators, provided by Mortgage101 http://www.mortgage101.com, an online content provider, cover nearly every numbers question a prospective buyer might have.

If you decide you want to work with an exclusive buyer agent, you also can contact one through the site. You also can query the association with any question you might have, either online or by calling the group at (800) 986-2322.

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