Who and what is a BUBBA? It’s the newest catch phrase and stands for “Buyer Unrepresented By a Buyers Agent.” This type of unrepresented buyer is a increasing trend in real estate and like the FSBO (for sale by owner) these are people who try to go it alone. Although these types of buyers only account for 23% of all buyers, that is a 4% increase from 2005. Of the total 23%, 13% of those buyers bought directly from a builder, 1% through foreclosure and the other 9% accounted for purchases directly from pervious owners.         

            Why BUBBA’s choose to go it alone? With all the new technologies and access to real estate data, many buyers think that they have all the knowledge & experience they need to purchase. They also may have some preconceived notion about commissions, assuming that they pay those fees as a buyers. This assumption is incorrect and in fact will generally not save a buyer any money. If a BUBBA does understand that the seller generally pays the commission they may assume that by approaching a seller directly, the seller will be willing to pass those savings on to them (seller pays no commission if also unrepresented).            

            Most of the notions that a BUBBA may have can not be backed by significant certainty. On the point of a seller “passing” on savings to a buyer, it is quite uncommon that a seller will “give” anything to the buyer.  Generally those “gifts” aren’t to the benefit of the seller and hence they probably won’t even offer them. As far as the purchasing process goes a BUBBA may not be fully aware of what the time commitment will be to follow the transaction to closing. A BUBBA might not be prepared for any of the normal or not so normal “bumps” in the road that may come along, and they may not realize all the different steps that need to take place in order to get the process to a successful completion. 

With such easy access to real estate information on the Internet a BUBBA may think that they know all there is about sales in their area. Getting access to currently active listings is easy, but getting sale history and market history information can be a lot more difficult. A Realtor® would be able to give you that information and a better opinion of true market value. A Realtor® can also give you a more diverse inventory to look at, will know how to navigate you through any bumps that may come along and can get you successfully and hassle free to closing.