| Is a buyer’s real estate agent required to provide them with a comparable market analysis?

Is a buyer’s real estate agent required to provide them with a comparable market analysis?

Amos R asked:


My friends real estate agent wouldn’t give them a comparable market analysis before they made an offer on a house. Is the agent required to provide that? This is in California. They feel as though the agent was trying to inflate the offer by not showing them recent sales info.
They have been working with the agent for a while and they have signed a paper/agreement for the agent to represent them as buyers.
They already made the offer on the house and now are negotiating the sellers counter offer. To the comment below, its my understanding agents do work for the buyers for free, its the seller that pays.

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Comments

4 Responses to “Is a buyer’s real estate agent required to provide them with a comparable market analysis?”

  1. Kathy S on March 27th, 2009 5:11 am

    no, the agent is NOT required to do that. If their agent won’t give them one and it is important to them, then they should tell the agent or just get a different agent. ALSO, they don’t have to rely on the agent of this information (althought I do also supply my clients with these) they can go to the county assessor office and see for themselves what has sold and for how much.

  2. rltrmrk on March 29th, 2009 1:26 pm

    I would tell your friends to find an honest realtor who willingly share the value of surrounding homes in comparison to the home they are thinking of buying

    This shoud be a no brainer for the Realtor who is he looking out for himself or what is best for the clients.

  3. Ross H, The Real Estate Guy on March 29th, 2009 3:46 pm

    Is the buyer a buyer customer or a buyer client? There is a difference. Have they filled out a Buyer agency agreement with the agent? If so, the agent is responsible for many services to the buyer. These include care, obedience, accounting, loyalty and disclosure. The agent is there to serve the buyers best interest and to get the best possible deal for the buyer.

    It sounds like the agent is looking after his or her OWN best interests. I would warn against an agent who was not willing to justify any recent sales data with a buyer before making an offer. It’s not required, but it is definitely arguable the the agent is not looking after the best interests of the buyer. A CMA is an easy thing for a agent to create to give a buyer an understanding of the market. I’m a former Californian, who now lives in South Carolina.

  4. Doctor Deth on March 29th, 2009 5:21 pm

    agent isn;t required to do anything for someone who hasn’t signed them a=on as a buyer’s agent. that type of analysis takes time and for the most up to date sales, only real estate agents have access to that online data - do it yourself if you want it for free - it’s kind of irrelevant - the house sales price is set - make a counter offer lower if you think it’s too high