The Real Estate Buying Team
It takes a lot of people to buy a home. You probably won’t even meet many of the people involved in the transaction.
Not every transaction requires all of these roles, (for example, many people work directly with a lender and so don’t use a mortgage broker), but this should help you identify anyone who you do come across during your purchase.
Buyer: that’s you.
Seller: the person who owns the property, or their legal representative.
Real Estate Sales Agents: the people who are licensed by the state’s Board of Real Estate to represent the buyer and seller in the sale:
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Listing Agent: realtor who lists the home for sale and represents the owner
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Listing Agent’s Broker: the owner of the realty where the listing agent works
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Buyer’s or Selling Agent: who represents the buyer
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Buyer’s/Selling Agent’s Broker: the owner of the realty where the buyer’s/selling agent works
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Agents’ Assistants: many agents have a team of less-experienced agents who assist them with property sales. Often these people are the ones who are staff the open house, collect and file the required paperwork.
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Stagers: sometimes a listing agent will hire a stager to work on a home to make it more saleable. This can be as simple as clearing up clutter and rearranging the seller’s furniture, or as extensive as emptying out the house, repainting, and furnishing it from top to bottom with the stager’s furniture, artwork, even knickknacks and accessories.
Loan Team: whether you work with a Mortgage Broker, or directly with a Loan Officer at a lender, there are quite a few people involved in the production of your loan:
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Mortgage Broker: person who connects a buyer with a lender and loan.
- More than One Lender: Most brokers work with a selection of lenders to offer a variety of loans
- Alone or a Team: This can be a person who handles the process him or herself, or the broker may employ a team of processors/assistants.
- Brokerage Fee: The borrower pays for the broker’s services on top of the lender’s loan origination fee
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Loan Officer: a person who works for a lender and who helps borrowers find a loan that works for them
- Only One Lender: this is basically the same role as the Mortgage Broker, but a loan officer works for only one lender, while the Mortgage Broker works for the brokerage which works with several lenders
- Loan Team: the loan officer is usually the first people you talk to, once you’ve picked a loan and found a property, they hand you off to the processing team
- Loan Origination Fee: you pay a fee to process the loan application, you don’t pay a brokerage fee as well
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Loan Processor: regardless of whether your loan came through a broker or a loan officer, a loan processor is the one who does a lot of the work in coordinating all of the lender steps and making your loan happen.
- Document Collection: the processor is often the person calling you about all the documents you need to send in to them to complete the loan application
- Loan Coordination: the processor is the one who walks your loan through all the steps of the process, making sure each is complete and resolving any problems
- Loan Officer: if you work directly with the loan officer at a lender, they usually hand off your file to the processor as soon as the loan is selected
- Broker: If you use a broker, you may never meet or speak to the processor, since the broker’s service usually includes handling all of the lender contact
- Loan Assistant: since most brokers, loan officers and processors handle many loan applications at a time, there are often a number of assistants who help them keep track. If you work directly with the lender, you may get called by an assistant looking for a document or some information for your loan.
- Loan Underwriter: underwriters analyze the loan application and make sure it meets all of the requirements for that type of loan (risk, income, etc). They usually have the final say over whether a loan can be granted or not.
Property Information & Insurance: most people don’t spend their free time looking at residential construction and so don’t know a lot about it. Luckily, there are a group of professionals who do:
- Inspectors: people who examine a property and look for structural defects
- Appraisers: evaluate a property to see whether the sales price is correct
- Title Officers: make sure the seller has the clear right to sell the property and receive the whole payment from the sale (“title of ownership”), they offer insurance against problems with the title, and they often manage the closing of escrow/settlement process
- Home Owner Insurance Salesman/Broker: a person who works for a single insurance company (salesman) or who works with several companies (broker) to provide insurance policies to homeowners.
- Home Warranty Salesman: a person who works for a home warranty insurance company.
Other Advice: there are other people who can help you with specific needs or issues in purchasing a property:
- Home Counselor: there are non-profit and HUD-funded centers to help even the least-prepared people buy homes.
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Real Estate Attorney: a lawyer who specializes in real estate law
- General Review: buying a property involves a lot of complex paperwork and legal contracts, many buyers find it helpful to pay for an attorney to review all of it and translate the documents into something they understand better
- Specific Issues: some purchases have legal complications and you need a lawyer to advise you on how to proceed. A couple of examples: if you have multiple borrowers or buyers and you need a legal document laying out percentages of ownership, or if an owner backs out of a deal to sell and refuses to return the deposit.
- Tax Advisor: purchasing a property can have a huge impact on your taxes. Many people consult a tax advisor to help them understand how to get the most benefit (or minimize the negative consequences) of buying a home.
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