Bringing You Home | February 2025
87 Hours: One Story Behind Buyer Agency
In 2024, the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the governing body of the residential real estate industry, imposed a new policy for buyer-broker representation, creating a shift in how we engage with buyers and how compensation is managed. The new requirements have added clarity to the buyer-broker relationship and have compelled us agents and brokerages to both sharpen our communication and articulate the value we deliver. Ultimately, the change is a boon for the industry and the clients we serve.
Still, with change comes growing pains and other challenges. Challenges we are navigating with our clients and one another. I am confident we will continue to move through this period stronger and better with greater appreciation for the role exceptional agents play in helping their clients achieve their real estate and lifestyle goals.
87 HOURS
A recent industry study found that, on average, buyer agents spend 87 hours engaged with a client from initial contact to the closing table. One story that brings this number to focus.
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I was introduced to an agreeable young man last summer who was intent on purchasing his first home. He possessed a healthy budget and specific ideas about what he wanted. A spacious home for entertaining and his hobbies, great light and ample private outdoor space in a lively, walkable neighborhood close to parks for his four-legged friend and him.
We set out with a plan to find this ideal home which happens to reflect many of the priorities of the expanding base of Millennial and Gen Z buyers.
My primary role, particularly during the exploratory phase of a client’s search is to educate, listen and advise. Beginning in July, we texted, emailed and spoke multiple times per week, discussing the merits of certain properties, reviewing market data my team and I pulled and scheduling property visits. We narrowed the neighborhoods of interest and property focus on townhomes or condos on the north side. We lost a couple of multiple offers due to unmanageable closing terms or price escalations we chose not to meet.
Then, a property emerged, as it often does, that coalesced with his wants, needs and timing. We went all in and secured the duplex Penthouse with the winning bid.
In a previous career, I tracked my hours in quarterly segments as that was the basis for my compensation. I do not pursue that course anymore, but I suspect that my team and I surpassed that industry average, as we often do, time and again.
If you would like more information on the new industry guidelines and the services we offer, please click here or reach out to me directly. It would be my pleasure to explain them.
