Professional Opinion
Real Estate Agents Should Stop Working With Buyers? SAY WHAT?????????????
đ Perspective: Professional Opinion
â± Estimated Reading Time: 8â10 Minutes
đŻ Article Focus:
Why representing buyers can make an agent a stronger listing professional, a better negotiator, and a more complete advocate for sellers.
â What This Article Examines
- Why listing appointments are serious professional competitions.
- How buyer representation prepares an agent to protect sellers.
- Why understanding both sides of a transaction creates value.
- Why personal preferences should not become business limitations.
I was watching a real estate coaching video the other day when I heard something that hit me about as hard as Sister Agnes did back in sixth grade after she caught me chewing gum in class.
If you survived Catholic school...
You probably just flinched.
The advice?
âI tell my coaching clients to only work with sellers. Never work with buyers.â
SAY WHAT?????????????????
Now, before anyone starts warming up the keyboard to tell me everyone is entitled to their opinion...
I agree.
They are.
I am simply going to explain why I think that advice is wrong and why I believe it limits an agentâs ability to become a complete real estate professional.
Every Listing Appointment Is A Fight
Letâs establish reality.
When you walk into a listing appointment...
Youâre in a fight.
Not a fistfight.
Not an argument.
Youâre in a professional fight for the opportunity to represent that homeowner.
You want that listing.
So does every other agent interviewing.
You know why.
I know why.
We all like paying our mortgage.
The homeowner is mentally checking boxes.
Every answer you give...
Every question you ask...
Every observation you make...
Either checks another box in your favor...
Or leaves one blank for the next agent.
Thatâs business.
đĄ The Professional Reality
A listing appointment is not a casual conversation. It is your opportunity to prove that your experience, judgment, and professional standards make you the strongest choice.
The agent who can legitimately check the most boxes is usually the agent who wins the listing.
Hereâs Where I Think The Advice Falls Apart
One of the biggest advantages I ever had wasnât my listing presentation.
It wasnât my marketing.
It wasnât my signs.
It wasnât my brochures.
It was something much simpler.
I represented buyers.
Lots of them.
That experience became one of the most valuable tools I had when sitting across from homeowners.
Because while other agents were explaining what they would do...
I could explain exactly what the buyerâs agent was about to do.
Those are two completely different conversations.
âHereâs Exactly How Theyâre Going To Come At You.â
One sentence won me more listings than almost anything else.
Iâd look at the homeowner and say...
âIf I were representing the buyer on your property, hereâs exactly how Iâd approach this negotiation.â
Then Iâd explain it.
Where I thought buyers would push.
What objections Iâd expect.
What inspection items would concern me.
How financing would affect negotiations.
Where Iâd look for leverage.
Suddenly...
I wasnât selling.
I was educating.
Thatâs a huge difference.
More than once, I asked homeowners after they hired me:
âWhat made you decide to choose me?â
The answer surprised me.
More than one seller told me:
âWhen you explained what the buyerâs agent was going to do, we realized you understood both sides of the transaction.â
Check.
Another.
Box.
One Transaction I'll Never Forget
One of the highest buyer-side commissions of my career came from representing buyers on a $750,000 purchase.
The listing agent was newer to the business and working part-time.
Unfortunately, several critical issues were missed.
The electrical panel would not satisfy FHA requirements.
Three windows failed to open and operate properly.
Another FHA issue.
The comparable sales used to support value failed to include a recent comparable sale that supported a value approximately $10,000 below the listing price.
As the buyer's representative...
My fiduciary duty was crystal clear.
Protect my client.
That's exactly what I did.
Now let's flip that around.
If I'm interviewing for your listing...
Who would you rather hire?
The agent who has years of experience sitting on the buyer's side of the table...
...or the agent who proudly tells you they never represent buyers?
I know which box I'd be checking.
đĄ Learning Point
Representing buyers teaches you how buyers think.
It teaches you how buyer's agents negotiate.
It teaches you where buyers look for leverage.
That knowledge doesn't disappear when you become a listing agent.
It becomes one of your greatest professional advantages.
This Isn't About Preference
Let's be clear.
You can prefer listings.
You can enjoy working with sellers more.
You can dislike buyers.
You can dislike open houses.
You can dislike expired listings.
We all have preferences.
But this is Business 101.
Business isn't built around our preferences.
It's built around opportunities.
One buyer today becomes tomorrow's seller.
One seller refers their brother.
That brother refers his daughter.
That daughter buys her first home.
You don't know where the next relationship leads.
Why would you voluntarily close a door before someone even knocks on it?
This Is A People Business
I've said this before.
Real estate isn't a property business.
It's a people business.
Properties don't refer you.
People do.
Properties don't write five-star reviews.
People do.
Properties don't send you Christmas cards twenty years later.
People do.
Every client deserves the opportunity to compete for their business.
Not because every transaction is easy.
Because every relationship has value.
One Question Changed My Business
Whenever I had the opportunity, I'd ask new clients one simple question.
âWhat made you decide to hire me?â
Then I'd ask another.
âDid you have any reservations before making that decision?â
Those two questions probably taught me more than half the seminars I attended over the years.
Clients will tell you exactly why they hired you.
They'll also tell you why they almost didn't.
Listen.
Learn.
Adjust.
Repeat.
Question Everyone
Here's another piece of advice.
Question everyone.
Question coaches.
Question trainers.
Question YouTube personalities.
Question me.
Seriously.
If I ever say something that doesn't make sense...
Challenge it.
Ask why.
Make me justify it.
If I discover I'm wrong...
I'll tell you.
I'll retract it.
I'll adjust my advice.
That's what professionals do.
But on this one...
I stand my ground.
Representing buyers made me a significantly better listing agent because I understood exactly how the other side thinks.
That knowledge protected my sellers.
It won listings.
And more importantly...
It made me a more complete professional.
Final Thought
You reap what you sow.
Farmers figured that out a long time ago.
Real estate is no different.
Don't let preferences become professional limitations.
Understand buyers.
Understand sellers.
Understand negotiations.
Understand people.
The more perspectives you understand...
The more valuable you become to every client fortunate enough to sit across the table from you.
â How Did We Do?
Do you believe representing buyers makes you a stronger listing agent?
Share your experience below. I'd especially like to hear from agents who have worked both sides of the transaction and what lessons buyer representation taught you that later benefited your sellers.