BUYER'S GUIDE - WELCOME TO REAL ESTATE 4 GOOD

Buying a home in Provincetown starts with understanding what you want, knowing your budget, and being ready when the right property becomes available.

I’ll help you navigate the search, evaluate properties, prepare an offer, and manage the steps from acceptance through closing. This guide gives you an overview of what to expect and what to prepare along the way.

Buying a home involves more than finding the right property. As your buyer’s agent, I help you evaluate your options, understand the local market, prepare a competitive offer, negotiate terms, and coordinate the steps from acceptance through closing.

Before our first showing, we’ll review two important documents so you understand our relationship, the services I provide, and how my brokerage is compensated. Both documents are described below.

The Massachusetts Mandatory Real Estate Licensee–Consumer Relationship Disclosure explains the relationship between you and the real estate professional you are working with, including whom that professional represents.

Massachusetts requires this disclosure at our first personal meeting to discuss a specific property. Your signature acknowledges that you received it. It is not a contract, does not obligate you to work with me, and does not establish a commission obligation. The form also provides an option to record that a consumer declined to sign.

If you’ve purchased a home before, you may remember touring properties without first signing a buyer representation agreement. National industry changes introduced in August 2024 now require participating agents working with buyers to have a written agreement before touring homes together, including live virtual tours.

Our buyer brokerage agreement establishes the terms of our working relationship. It explains the services my brokerage will provide, the agreement’s duration and scope, and the compensation for representing you. We’ll review these terms together before you sign.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Robert Paul Properties is a full-service brokerage. Our fee for buyer representation is 2.5% of the purchase price, as outlined in our buyer brokerage agreement.

All of my work on your behalf—from researching properties and arranging showings to negotiating and guiding you through the purchase—is performed without compensation unless and until we close on a property.

The agreement establishes your responsibility for the fee. However, as part of our offer, we will request that the seller pay the full buyer brokerage fee on your behalf. If the seller agrees, the payment is documented in the transaction and paid from the seller’s proceeds at closing.

In my experience in Provincetown since the industry changes in 2024, sellers have almost always agreed to pay all or most of the buyer brokerage fee. I have not personally encountered a seller who refused to contribute, although that remains possible. 

If the seller counters with anything less than the full fee, we will discuss your options and any potential financial responsibility before proceeding.

My brokerage cannot collect the agreed commission twice. Any amount paid by the seller or listing brokerage reduces your obligation dollar for dollar. If they cover the full fee, you owe no additional buyer brokerage commission. The total compensation received from all sources cannot exceed the amount in our agreement.

My goal is to make the process clear from the beginning, so you understand the services you receive and the financial commitments involved.