What is a Buyer’s Agent? — Shauna Callaghan

Agency competition has created a process where the sellers are needed for listings, to get to buyers who pay for that service.

Buyers pay agents to sell the seller’s property.

Should the sellers pay? 100%, but the current constraints of the industry allow sellers to refuse. As such, a few key players are trying to even that field. Buyer’s agents.

Good agents list units, build relationships with buyers, and work as buyers’ agents, helping them through the process. As of late, some have shifted into that role completely and don’t work with sellers at all.

There are pros and cons to this way of working, but it’s worth considering if you’re about to start the home-buying journey.

What Even Is a Buyer's Agent?

Exactly what it says on the tin.

An agent hired to represent the buyer. Not the seller. Not the deal. You.

In a normal transaction, the agent arranging your viewing has been engaged by the seller to get the best price, fastest. A buyer's agent flips that. They're hired by you, and their job is to act in your interest the whole way through.

This is why I always recommend finding an agent and sticking with them. If they don’t have the specific property you’re looking for, they can source it and act as a buyer’s agent - even if that’s not their title.

Your number one priority when buying property is choosing who to work with.

What They Actually Do For You

Strip the fluff, and a good buyer's agent is doing four things:

Vetting listings

Before you waste your weekend on them. Confirming it's actually available, actually priced right, actually what you asked for.

Negotiating properly

Not the soft "I'll try" you get from someone with zero incentive to push. Real, in-your-corner negotiation.

Filtering the bait-and-switch

The listings designed purely to get you on the phone so they can pivot you to something "even better."

Advocating through the search and offer stage

Asking the questions you don't know to ask yet.

That's the lane. Finding the right property, getting the right deal on it.

The Pros

Someone is finally on your side.

Every red flag, every "skip that one," is coming from someone whose incentive matches yours instead of working against it.

Real negotiation power.

A good one knows when a price is soft, when a seller's getting antsy, when there's room to push.

Time saved.

All the dead-end viewings and follow-ups that go nowhere get absorbed by them instead of you.

Accountability.

If they're meant to work for you and they're not delivering, that's a conversation you can actually have.

The Cons

No specialisation

Buyers’ agents tend to work the city over. While they can do research on a particular area, they won’t have the granular knowledge that an area specialist will.

If your priority is the area specifics, you may be better with an area specialist who can reach out to agents or the owners directly to gain access to the units.

Agent Refusals

It’s common in the market for arrogant agents to refuse to work with another agent. Whether it’s commission-fuelled (2 agents means split commission) or wanting full control of the process, there are currently no laws or regulations impeding this choice, like there are in other countries.

And you likely won’t be told that it’s due to a refusal to work with agents. A yarn will be spun about other offers, unit availability, etc.

Finding a good one is its own task.

Same problem as finding a good regular agent, with extra steps. The title doesn't guarantee competence. We are seeing more agents swapping over to take on the title of “buyer’s agent”, which means the quality is going to drop as it grows.

So, Do You Actually Need One?

Honestly? It depends on you. Your wants, needs, and expectations.

Got the time, the market knowledge, and the patience to vet and negotiate area specialists yourself? You might not need one.

New to the market, short on time, or already burned by the ghosting and bait-and-switch routine? It stops being a nice-to-have. It becomes the thing protecting your sanity and your bank balance.

The real risk isn't choosing yes or no. It's assuming someone's protecting you when nobody actually is.

If you've decided this is your route, don't grab the first name with a flashy car in their Instagram bio. I've got a list of agents I'd actually send a friend to. You can find my agent rolodex right here.

You don't need to figure this out alone. You just need to ask the right question before you're three viewings deep and already attached to somewhere that was never right for you.