In HUD's first revision in ten years, 'Shopping for your Home Loan' was released December 15, 2009. This booklet provides home buyers with an overview of the home buying process and the interaction various professionals will have with buyers. The booklet points out that one of the first steps towards purchasing a home, is for a buyer to consult a real estate agent. HUD cautions buyers to understand the type of representation an agent can offer them as a buyer.

It is your responsibility to search for an agent who will represent your interests in the real estate transaction. If you want someone to represent only your interests, consider hiring an "exclusive buyer’s agent", who will be working for you. "    - HUD, Shopping for your Home Loan, Rev. 12/15/2009

As an Exclusive Buyer Agency, all of our agents are dedicated to the buyer. As a firm, we have decide not to work with sellers which potentially could reduce our abilities to provide uncompromised representation to buyers. Buyers Advantage Group Realty is very pleased to see the recognition and endorsement from HUD to home buyers to find an exclusive buyer agent to assist their home purchase. If your friends and family have never worked with an EBA, you owe it to yourself to explore the best real estate professional a buyer can hire to guide them through the home buying process.

In addition to information about real estate agents, the booklet gives valuable information about shopping for a loan, selecting attorneys, reviewing settlement statements, Good Faith Estimates, and much more.

Buyers Advantage Group Realty Agents' have always provided similar information to our clients as an introduction and education to the buying process for the Fayetteville Area of North Carolina. We have put together the area's best service partners for our clients needs for attorneys, inspections and lenders. We are pleased to have this booklet from HUD to provide as a supplement to the information we currently share with our clients. It might have taken the HUD 10 years to know what our clients been experiencing for years but we are very happy for their new found insight!

Fighting for good real estate consumer protection laws, has been part of the vision of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA). Top of NAEBA's list of consumer concerns has been fighting for agency disclosure since the changes in agency law in the mid-nineties. John Sullivan, NAEBA President, shares with us the problem of undisclose agency:

"Real estate agencies that represent both sellers and buyers, known in the industry as dual agency brokers, maximize their income but shortchange both buyer and seller clients. Though dual agency is legal in almost all states, the ethics of such representation is questionable even when the seller and buyer understand and consent.

Disclosing whom the real estate agent represents is an accepted standard. The timing of such disclosure varies by state in a patchwork of requirements by law or regulation. However, as Blanche Evans pointed out in a 2006 article in Realty Times, a study by the National Association of Realtors revealed that only 30% of home buyers received a disclosure statement at the first meeting, 28% when the contract was written, 22% didn’t receive one at all and 20% were uncertain if they received one.

First time home buyers, as a group, fared worse with only 23% receiving disclosure at their first meeting. When you purchase a home, whether it’s your first or fifth, you deserve an agent who is trained and dedicated to serving only you the Buyer. The NAEBA members continue to provide full agency duties of obedience, undivided loyalty, confidentiality, full disclosure, accounting and utmost care to their clients. I hope that when you buy your next home you will choose one of our members and benefit from 100% representation 100% of the time."

To read complete vision of NAEBA' President's  John Sullivan  To read what NAEBA says about HUD's endorsement of EBAs

As a member of NAEBA and being one of fifteen firms to be awarded the Excellence of Service Award for 2008, we take buyer representation very seriously - buyers are our passion!. We are also proud of Marge Bish, co-owner of Buyers Advantage Group Realty, for her role as a NAEBA Board Member and the direct contributions she makes to buyer advocacy.

Exclusive Buyer Agents have been a little know choice for buyers but the word is getting out. EBAs are the Buyer's Choice to be the Buyer's Voice