Spring House Hunt

A good buyer’s agent can give you the edge in a competitive market

Agents can help buyers from being misled during a sale, among other things.

Seller’s/buyer’s agent Sandrine Deschaux, center, shows the home at 92 Howard St. in Cambridge to prospective buyers. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff

By The Boston Globe

1 minute to read

Local property experts say that given the competitive nature of the market and a law recently going into effect making written agreements with buyers’ agents mandatory, picking the right accredited agent is crucial.

The agents can help homebuyers with complicated home inspections and the multiple forms involved in purchasing a piece of property. Melvin Vieira, a real estate broker and former head of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, equated buyers going into home sales without an agent to someone going to court without an attorney, but added that the agent needed to be reliable.

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Proper agents can prevent a buyer from being misled during the sale, and can help them avoid pitfalls like shoddy home inspections and unscrupulous lenders, among other things.

“Buyer’s agents work with the buyer’s attorney to make sure, among many other things, that the title is clear and the lender is reputable,”Vieira said.

The new law, which went into effect in August 2024, said home buyers must engage — at their expense — a broker looking out for their best interests. Before, the seller was in effect paying part of the buyer agent’s fee.

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Sandrine Deschaux, who’s been selling real estate in Greater Boston for two decades, estimates the fee ranges from 2.5 percent to 3 percent of the final property price.

“You can structure the agreement as you want. You can make it an a la carte deal,” she said.

Deschaux said the agent and buyer work together to find the right product.

“The agent must assess your tolerance for risk-taking. People need someone to hold their hands, and even be a psychotherapist,” she said.

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