A curious article on Curbed this morning described a resident of Cape Town, South Africa, who is looking to ’swap’ homes with someone in New York City. For $675,000, he built and furnished an amazingly beautiful 2,300 sq foot two bedroom home in Cape Town. He is now offering to trade his home for a similarly priced home here in the city. However, he is hoping to save some money by not getting agents involved in the transaction.

Upon seeing this offer, the good people at Curbed decided to show him exactly what he was getting himself into. So off the top of their heads, they found a listing here in New York that matches his price. It’s listed as ‘a 5 room wreck’ that’s a ‘fantastic value’ with ‘great potential.’ Does anyone else catch the whiff of euphemisms in the air? In any case, words like great potential are not exactly what you want to hear after putting your palatial Cape Town home on the line, are they?

Although this budding real estate mogul may have taken a purist stance in the transaction, not wanting to involve agents, the reality is that he has effectively shot himself in the foot in terms of finding the best deal. By avoiding agents, he is restricting his choices to about one in six homes (the other five on the market, on average, are represented by sell-side agents). The other irony is that working with a buying agent would cost the Cape Towner nothing as his agent’s commission is taken out of the New York seller’s transaction price. Thus, by allowing an agent to handle the transaction, our friend from Cape Town would be exposed to a vastly larger pool of purchasable homes at no additional cost. On top of this, if he were to hire a respectable buying agent, he could benefit from extensive local knowledge that he does not have himself, in addition to (in most cases) years of buying experience. In places like New York City, finding a great agent that’s right for you can actually save you worlds of trouble while keeping you well abreast of all the fabulous wrecks out there. If you’re interested in finding an agent in New York we could even help you get started