In case you haven't heard, President Obama signed the law extending and expanding the home buyers tax credit into law today. Here's what it means for you:

Yesterday we talked about signing a buyers agency agreement. Today I'd like to talk a little bit more about why you might want to have a buyer's agent rather than use the listing agent to write your offer.

A listing agent is representing the seller of a property. A listing agent can never represent your interests. No matter how nice they seem, this is a matter of law!

They can write the offer for you on a property they list and they can do that in one of two ways. They can do it as a dual agent, once they've disclosed that to you and gotten your permission. This means that they represent the interests of both parties. And, while that's what the law states I think that's absurd. The buyer's interest is to buy the property for the lowest possible price and the seller's is to sell it for the highest possible price. Dual agency, in my mind, means no one gets proper representation. The only advantage here is to the agent who makes extra money!

They can also write the offer for you as the seller's agent and with you, therefore, not having any representation. While this is certainly a more honest approach, if you're the buyer you'd be well advised to be cautious. The seller's agent is obligated to the seller and to represent their best interests. That means that potentially every word that comes out of your mouth may be going back to the seller verbatim! You don't even have to tell the agent you can afford more than you're offering it. A good agent will sometimes pick up on subtle signals and sense this and his or her obligation is to share all of this with the seller. No seller's agent is ever going to be able to do a good job for you as an unrepresented buyer. They may be able to adequately write what you tell them in a contract, but you have given away much of your negotiating position.

In my opinion, you will eventually realize that this was a bad decision. It may be sooner or it may be a year or two later! But having a listing agent write an offer on your behalf is always a bad idea!

If you have a buyer's agent you should be talking to them and not to the listing agent. Again, it's not that they're a bad person. But their obligation is to get every advantage they can for their sellers. The good ones take this obligation seriously. I know I do.

If knowing all this you still choose to have the listing agent act on your behalf, don't say you weren't warned! Buyer beware definitely applies here!

As of July 1st there's a new property disclaimer/disclosure form in the state of Virginia. This form replaces the old forms and has three main changes.

First of all, you must indicate whether or not they are aware of whether the subject property is in a defined historic area.  This would potentially make the property subject to many additional restrictions regarding how the property is used, how it is remodeled, etc. The form instructs potential purchasers to do due diligence to research this for themselves.

Secondly, the owner is representing that there are no enforcement actions pending against the property that effect the safe, decent and sanitary living conditions of the property.

And thirdly a notice that the owner makes no representations as to the whether the property encompasses any Resource Protection Areas pursuant to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act. Here again, purchasers are advised to do their own due diligence.

If your home was on the market as of July 1st, it is affected by this change.  The older disclaimer/disclosure forms are no longer valid. So if your house is currently listed and the agent hasn't contacted you about getting the new form signed, give them a call!