01
How does a buyer's agent get paid, and what am I signing?
A buyer's agent is paid under a written agreement between the agent and the buyer. That agreement states the amount or the rate, who pays it, and how long it runs. Compensation can come from the seller, from the listing brokerage, from the buyer directly, or from a mix. None of it is automatic, so it gets negotiated in writing.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer walks the agreement line by line before anyone tours a house. The rate or fee, the term, the area covered, and how it ends. Ask what happens when the seller offers less, and who covers the difference. Ask for a short first term, then renew if it fits.
Red flag
An agent who waves off the paperwork and says the seller always pays describes a world that has changed. It also means the buyer signs without knowing the fallback. A vague answer here predicts vague answers later.
02
How many homes have you closed in Georgetown, and in which neighborhoods?
Local volume is a proxy for local knowledge rather than proof of it, but the two usually travel together. Georgetown neighborhoods differ sharply in age, district taxes, association rules and commute time. An agent who closes here often knows which subdivisions carry a district charge and which builders are still active.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer arrives with specifics. Buyer side closings in the past year, the neighborhoods, and the price range. In Georgetown, Round Rock and Liberty Hill, where T. Kerr Property Group works, a buyer can reasonably ask for two recent client references. Ask about the deals that fell apart too.
Red flag
A closing count with no neighborhoods behind it is a resume, not an answer. So is an agent who covers a wide area but cannot name the last three Georgetown subdivisions they showed. Broad coverage is fine. Vagueness about the local map is not.
03
Will you tell me if a home is in a MUD or a PID?
A municipal utility district or a public improvement district adds its own charge on top of city, county and school taxes. Municipal utility districts are created under Texas Water Code Chapter 54, with general district law in Chapter 49. That charge changes the monthly payment, which changes what a buyer can afford on the same house.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer describes both the paperwork and the check. TREC promulgates the Notice to Purchaser of Special Taxing or Assessment District, and a seller inside one delivers it to the buyer. Ask the agent to confirm the entity list on the WCAD record, before the option period ends.
Red flag
An agent who says most homes around here have one and then moves on has skipped the actual number. District loads differ between neighboring subdivisions. Learning it at the closing table means the buyer never got to price it.
04
How do I confirm which schools a house actually feeds?
School attendance zones are set by the district, and they change. Listing sites and map tools often lag behind a boundary update. A Georgetown address can sit close to a district line, or inside one district while the mailing address suggests another. The reliable source is the district itself, checked by street address.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer names the step. Confirm the assigned campus with Georgetown ISD, or with whichever district covers the address, using the district's own lookup tool. Ask whether a boundary review is underway. A buyer who needs a specific campus should get that verification in writing before the option period runs out.
Red flag
An agent who forwards a listing screenshot as proof has passed along someone else's error. Nobody at a listing site is responsible for a boundary change. A buyer who moves for a school and lands outside the zone has no remedy afterward.
05
Do you represent buyers on new construction, and will you attend the builder meetings?
A builder's sales representative works for the builder. A buyer walking a model home alone has nobody on their side of the table. Most builders honor a buyer's agent when the agent registers at the first visit. Register late, or walk in alone, and the buyer can lose representation on that contract entirely.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer covers registration and attendance together. The agent registers at the first visit. The agent reviews the builder's contract, which is not the standard TREC form. The agent attends the design meeting, the walk before drywall, and the final walkthrough. Ask which of those the agent has attended lately.
Red flag
An agent who says the builder handles all of that has described the builder's job, not their own. Builder contracts favor the builder, and incentives arrive with conditions attached. A buyer who signs one without review is negotiating alone.
06
How would you use the option period on my offer?
The Texas contract carries a termination option at Paragraph 23 of the TREC One to Four Family Residential Contract. The buyer pays an option fee and gets an unrestricted right to terminate for a negotiated number of days. Those days are the buyer's leverage. Everything a buyer might want to learn has to fit inside them.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer treats the option period as a calendar. How many days the agent asks for and why. When the inspection gets booked. When specialist reports come back. When the repair conversation happens. Ask how the agent decides between a shorter window and a stronger looking offer.
Red flag
An agent who always recommends the shortest possible option period is optimizing for winning the contract, not for the buyer's protection. Sometimes a short window is the right call. It should follow from the house and the competition, not from habit.
07
Which inspections do you recommend, and who chooses the inspector?
A general inspection covers the house broadly and stops where specialists begin. In Central Texas, buyers often add a structural opinion when a slab shows movement, a sewer scope on an older home, and a closer look at the roof. Each one costs money and time. Each one has to fit inside the option period.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer explains which specialists this particular house warrants, and why. The buyer chooses the inspector, and a good agent offers several names without pressure. Ask whether the agent attends the inspection. Ask how they handle a report that turns up something serious on a house the buyer already loves.
Red flag
An agent who steers every client to one inspector and discourages questions is worth asking about. So is one who calls a specialist report a waste of money before anyone has looked at the slab. Both answers put speed ahead of information.
08
What happens if the appraisal comes in below the price I offered?
A low appraisal does not cancel a contract by itself. It caps what the lender will lend, which leaves a gap somebody has to close. There are four usual paths. The buyer brings extra cash, the seller lowers the price, the two split the difference, or the parties terminate under the financing terms.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer walks all four paths with numbers attached before anyone panics. It also turns on what the financing addendum in this specific contract says about appraised value. Ask how often the agent has requested a reconsideration of value, and what kind of evidence actually moved a number.
Red flag
An agent whose only plan is for the buyer to bring cash has not read the contract options. An agent who promises the appraisal will come in is promising something an independent appraiser controls. Neither answer helps at the moment it matters.
09
What happens if I want to walk away from a house?
A buyer's exit depends on which protection is still live. During the termination option, the buyer can end the contract for any reason and loses the option fee. After that window closes, an exit runs through the financing terms or another contract provision. About 73 percent of Williamson County listings reach closing, so contracts do come apart here.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer maps the exits by date rather than by feeling. Which day the option period ends. What the financing addendum allows, and until when. What happens to earnest money in each case. Ask the agent to put those dates in one message at the start.
Red flag
An agent who says a buyer can always get out is describing the option period and nothing past it. Earnest money is genuinely at risk once those protections lapse. A buyer wants the honest map, including the part where leaving costs money.
10
How will we communicate, and when are you actually available?
Response time decides outcomes whenever a good listing draws more than one offer. A buyer needs to know how fast an agent replies, through which channel, and who covers weekends and vacations. Agents who work a wide area or a heavy volume are not always reachable. That is workable when it is stated up front.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer is a commitment rather than a feeling. Preferred channel, a typical response window, the hours the agent is unreachable, and a named backup. Ask what happens if a listing hits on a Saturday morning while the agent sits at a closing. Ask how quickly showings get scheduled.
Red flag
An agent who promises to always be available has promised something nobody delivers. The better answer names the limits and the backup. Vagueness about availability tends to surface later as a missed showing on the right house.
11
Who else will touch my file, and what do they do?
Most buyer side work passes through several hands. A transaction coordinator tracks deadlines. A showing partner may open doors. An assistant may handle paperwork. A team structure is not a problem by itself. It becomes one when the buyer never learns who does what, or who answers when something goes wrong.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer names the people and the handoffs. Who writes the offer. Who tracks the option period and the financing dates. Who attends the inspection and the final walkthrough. Ask who the buyer calls with a question, and who calls back when that person is out.
Red flag
An agent who cannot say who else is on the file has not thought about the handoffs. A team that introduces a new name at every step has the same gap. Deadlines slip between two people who each assumed the other had it.
This article is general information about the Central Texas market and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Statutes, exemptions and district rules change. Confirm anything that affects a decision with a licensed attorney, a tax professional or the Williamson Central Appraisal District before acting on it.
