Exclusive buyer brokerage doesn't help buyers get a house for a better price, but it does shorten search time, which can save buyers money, a study says.

Buyer's representatives helped homebuyers shave an average of 2.5 weeks off their search time, compared with buyers using a traditional agent, according to a study by researchers at the University of Alabama and East Tennessee State University.

The shorter time frame remains true even after search costs and buyer motivation are taken into account, the researchers say. "To the extent that search costs are reduced as search duration falls, claims that buyer's agents can save their clients money have some empirical support."

The study comes at a time when the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission is asking its state's highest court to revisit a recent ruling. In June the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that it wasn't misleading for a practitioner with The Buyer's Agent Inc. to claim in a brochure that only an exclusive buyer's agent can fully represent a buyer's interest. The real estate commission had fined the practitioner for the claim and had also questioned the practitioner's claim that buyer's agents can save their clients money. (See "Court upholds buyer's rep claim," REALTOR^® Magazine, July 1999, page 19.)

For more on the study, "Buyer Brokers: Do They Make a Difference?" contact Leonard Zumpano, University of Alabama, 205/348-4117.