It's important that you choose an full time, experienced agent who is there for you. Your agent should be actively finding you potential homes, keeping you informed of the entire process, negotiating on your behalf, and answering all of your questions with competence and speed.

When you are working with a buyer's agent, he or she cannot tell the seller that you might offer more without your consent. He or she will be focused on getting you the best price.

Also, when you use a buyer's agent, you will see more properties. Not only are they plugged into the Multiple Listing Services, but they are actively finding homes that are listed as FSBO (for sale by owner), or homes that sellers are thinking about listing.