Real estate agents are normally licensed by the state they practice in to help people buy and sell real estate. Here in New York, the Department of State is responsible for issuing the licenses and enforcing license law. In most situations, agents are required to successfully complete courses in real estate, including coursework in real estate financing and real estate law according to the National Association of Realtors.
What is a REALTOR?
REALTORS are real estate agents / brokers that are members of the National Association of Realtors. A real estate broker is a person licensed with the DOS to own a real estate firm.
What is the role of an Ulster County real estate agent?
They main objective of a real estate agent is to bring about the meeting of the minds between both the buyer and the seller. They do this by counseling you through the entire buying process, from helping you decide what type of home you are looking for and locating it to tracking the progress of your loan application.
First, an agent will determine your needs and make appointments to see the houses that fit that criteria. Once you have located a house, the agent will help you prepare an offer (or a binder in our area) and negotiate with the seller's real estate agent.
The next thing a real estate agent will help you with is the mountain of paperwork. The required paperwork could include checking on the mortgage application, setting up and attending an inspection and any needed repairs and coordinating the attorney, title company and any other specialists required to complete the deal.
An Ulster County real estate agent cannot directly arrange a mortgage. A good real estate agent can, however, recommend several reputable mortgage companies, local attorneys, inspectors and other professionals for the buyer to choose from.
What is a buyer's agent?
The idea of a buyer's agent is a relatively new one. The first ones starting becoming popular in the mid to late 1980s, as a result of the confusion over whom agents work for and owed loyalty. Traditionally, a single agent could work for both a buyer and a seller resulting in an obvious conflict of interest. In this type of situation, the real estate agent paid his/her loyalty to the person paying the sales commission, regardless of who first contacted the agent. As a result, real agents didn't whole heartedly represent the buyer's interests.
The benefit of using a buyers agent is that a buyer's agent works exclusively for the home buyer, and does not represent the seller at all unless specifically agreed upon by the buyer with full disclosure of the relationship.
New York State requires your agent to disclose for whom he or she works. Our Policy at Prudential Nutshell Realty is that at no time can a agent represent both sides of a transaction.
Our Ulster County real estate agents and their profiles are below. Please feel free to read through them and contact any of the agent with any questions.