Irreverent Real Estate: A Complete Guide to Buying in NYC and What Your Buyer’s Agent Does for You.

Hello Readers!

If you want to buy an apartment or house in New York Cityl, I promise you, no matter how brilliant you are, no matter how often you have done this before- you need help! Furthermore, just for psychological reasons, no one should have to navigate the wacky NYC real estate market alone. And indeed, you will not be alone, you will have an whole host of people working on your deal who hold the keys to your intended castle.

In any given transaction in NYC you have five players. 1) You – the buyer  2) Your real estate agent (buyer’s agent)  3)The seller’s real estate agent  4)Your mortgage broker  and 5)Your real estate attorney. Do you have to have all these people on board?  Pretty much, yes. I guess you could choose to skip using a buyer’s agent if you really wanted to, but I wouldn’t,  we cost you nothing , and will likely save your butt again and again if we are good, so why would you? Plus I’ll explain the short version of what we do for you-some of which would be done by the seller’s agent if we weren’t around. And the seller’s agent, in most transactions, is really not your friend , no matter how nice they are, because they are legally bound to work exclusively in the seller’s interest.

Let’s start with your job and your buyer’s agent’s job. It makes sense to discuss them at the same time because they are linked in every way. Some buyers prefer to be very autonomous and find their own listings, go alone to open houses, and only use their agent when they need a private appointment (if you want your agent to be able to negotiate for you-or collect a share of the commission at the end, they will have to schedule any private showings on your behalf, and accompany you). If you are someone who likes to shop by yourself- your buyer’s agent can research properties you saw and liked, talk to you about what they know about the building, send you comps so you have some idea what an appropriate value for any given apartment is, tell you the sales history of an apartment, try to collect insider real estate gossip about an apartment or building, and propose a reasonable offer for you when you want to make an offer.

Alternatively, if you want your buyer’s agent to take a more proactive approach, we can preview apartments for you and give you feedback, send you new listings for your review, inform you of price reductions on places that have been on the market, and accompany you to open houses and showings. We can give you tours of a neighborhood if you need them, or steer you towards certain listings we feel are especially nice or appropriate for you. So clearly, it’s a pretty flexible relationship.. and it’s easiest for everyone if you and your buyer’s agent discuss your preferred strategy upfront.

Once you locate a place you want- your agent will send you an offer form to fill out and ask you to email your pre-approval letter to them (takes 20 minutes on the phone with a mortgage broker to get one of these- your buyer’s agent can recommend one). By now, ideally you will already have an attorney picked out (your buyer’s agent can recommend them too).

Hopefully you will soon hear back about your offer. If the seller makes a counteroffer (likely), your agent will negotiate the deal with the seller’s agent until you and the seller have agreed on a price. Then your agent will give the seller’s agent all kinds of information about you to be shared with the seller’s attorney and will receive all kinds of info about the seller to share with your attorney. A contract will be produced by your attorney and you will be asked to sign as well as hand over 10% (even if the down payment for the apt will be 20% or more-the rest will be submitted at the closing). After signing, the contract will be sent to the seller’s attorney for their signature. Meanwhile, you have contacted your mortgage broker to let them know you have an accepted offer, and that person is working diligently on getting your loan commitment letter for you.

 If you are offering on a co-op (and sometimes this can be true for a condo as well) your buyer’s agent will now have to really earn their commission. A co-op will require a board package, which is essentially a book about your worthiness to buy the apartment you want. It includes bank statements and reference letters, and a whole host of other documents, that you will hand over to your agent at your soonest convenience. Your agent  will help you stay on top of the paperwork and create a sometimes 100 page document about how great you will be for the building. Some condos don’t require this kind of thing, but increasingly condo associations like to see some version of them as well.

Then, if your application is approved by the co-op board, you will be invited to interview, and your buyer’s agent will be able to prepare you for the tone of that meeting. Some are casual no-sweat affairs (though, just FYI, don’t underdress-business casual is generally about right even if everyone else is in sweatpants, hoodies, and knit caps), others require a little more strategy, especially if there are any questions about your financial past or present that require a little extra explanation (Don’t panic ---that’s totally manageable too).

Hopefully your commitment letter comes in from your mortgage broker soon. You will lock in a rate, and then, presuming your interview went great, you will get your official approval from the board. Then it’s the attorneys’ turn…a fair bit of wrangling between them to arrange a closing date, and voila! You are ready to close! (can take a while to get a date arranged – there are a lot of people who have to be present for that meeting all with different schedules). Your buyer’s agent will schedule a “walk through” of your new place before the closing (sometimes the same day) to make sure everything looks the way it did when you made your offer, and that any agreed upon fixes have been completed.

Then, when the happy day arrives you will come to the closing prepared with all your various checks (outlined in detail by your attorney ahead of time) to the appointed place (often the seller’s attorney’s office or the office of the management company) where your attorney will sit next to you at the table and walk you through exactly what to do. You will sign a million pieces of paper, pay taxes to everyone on God’s green earth, and get keys to your new place. Your buyer’s agent might be there, essentially just to help out, and answer questions if you have any, but don’t be surprised if they don’t seem to have much to do – closings are a legal affair and attorneys rule there.

After the closing you should feel free to contact your buyer’s agent if you have questions that you would like to have communicated to the former owner…your agent is not obliged to get you answers but most likely will be happy to do it. They have access to all parties involved and often have been making sure that everyone has been playing nicely together throughout the transaction and is therefore friendly with them all.

Buying in NYC is a fascinating and nuanced experience. And having worthwhile support, especially when it is free, can be an invaluable asset-don’t do it alone!

All the best,

Alexandra

646-269-1072