Buy Your Pittsburgh Home,
Without Costly Mistakes.

The right buyer's agent is the one who will tell you not to buy a house when something is wrong with it, not the one with the most yard signs. Interview at least two or three agents before you commit. Ask what they actually do at a showing beyond opening the door. Ask what tools they bring. Ask how they get paid and what happens if the seller isn't offering compensation. Ask to see the buyer's agreement before you sign anything. A good agent welcomes every one of those questions. One who gets defensive or rushes you is telling you something important. In Pennsylvania a written agreement is required before an agent can show you homes, but it doesn't have to be a months-long exclusive on day one. Ask about shorter options first. This person will be in your corner for one of the biggest financial decisions of your life. Take the time to get it right.

Pennsylvania law requires a written buyer agreement before an agent can show you a property – but that doesn’t mean you need to sign a binding contract which most agents push on people. We never push contracts in the first conversation or two. When you're ready to tour, we can start with a short 7-day touring agreement rather than a months-long exclusive, and when you're ready to move forward, we'll put a full buyer's agency agreement in place with the fee and terms spelled out upfront. Agents that shove a contract in your face before hello are commission vampires, and that’s not our thing. It’s like planning the wedding before the first date. It is important to note that without an exclusive buyer’s agency contract, no real estate agent has a fiduciary duty to you or is required to keep anything confidential.

Yes, first-time home buyers are some of our favorite clients to guide. You're not supposed to know how earnest money, inspections, or seller assist work. That's literally why we're here. We walk you through every step in plain English, connect you with first-time buyer loan programs and down payment assistance through PHFA and the City of Pittsburgh, and our Threshold Signature program adds a free 1-year home warranty, a $100 rekey credit, and white glove closing coordination at no cost to you. Start with our Pittsburgh first-time home buyer guide, or text Craig at 412-663-3325 with your first question.

You're not required to be pre-approved to tour homes in Pittsburgh, but get pre-approved before you fall in love with one. Knowing your real number, an actual pre-approval rather than a rough estimate, saves heartbreak and wasted weekends. It also makes your offer dramatically more competitive. Well-priced homes in neighborhoods like Mt. Lebanon, Bethel Park, and Upper St. Clair regularly draw multiple offers. Our lending partner, One Real Mortgage, can usually get you pre-approved quickly with no obligation and no pressure.

Most Pittsburgh home purchases take 30 to 60 days from contract to closing, and finding the right home can add weeks or months depending on your criteria and target neighborhoods. When you use our integrated services, One Real Mortgage for lending and One Real Title for closing, everything is tightly coordinated and we can close in as few as 15 days in the right circumstances. Timeline is one of the first things The Knox Team plans around. If you have a hard deadline, a lease ending, a school year starting, a job start date, we build the strategy around it.

In most Pittsburgh sales the seller still pays all or most of the buyer's agent commission, but since the 2024 NAR settlement it's negotiated, not automatic. Here's how it works now: your agent's fee is agreed upon upfront in your buyer's agency agreement, before you tour a single home. Then, when you make an offer, we negotiate for the seller to cover that fee as part of the deal. Most sellers do, because it attracts more buyers. But if you fall in love with a house where the seller isn't offering compensation, or is only offering part of it, you'll need to plan for those funds. There are ways to soften that: negotiating it into the offer, seller concessions, or certain lender-allowed structures. We map out exactly what your scenario looks like in our first conversation, so the number never surprises you.

Most Pittsburgh buyers, especially first-time home buyers, put down far less than 20%. FHA loans start at 3.5% down, conventional loans can go as low as 3%, and VA loans require nothing down for eligible veterans. Pennsylvania buyers also have access to down payment and closing cost assistance through PHFA (Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency), and City of Pittsburgh buyers may qualify for URA programs worth thousands more. These programs have income limits and change frequently, so checking your eligibility early matters. That's why we connect every buyer with One Real Mortgage at the start: they shop 30+ lenders and 50+ loan products to find your fit, assistance programs included.

Pittsburgh buyers should budget roughly 2% to 5% of the purchase price in closing costs, not including the down payment. That covers lender fees, title insurance, recording fees, prepaid property taxes, and homeowners insurance deposits. The biggest variable is transfer tax. Buying inside Pittsburgh city limits means a significantly higher transfer tax than most suburbs, so where you buy matters. The Knox Team walks through a full closing cost estimate before you ever make an offer, so there are no surprises at the table.

The Pittsburgh transfer tax is 5% of the purchase price, the highest of any municipality in Pennsylvania. It combines the state (1%), city (2%), and school district (2%) rates, and it's customarily split evenly, with buyers and sellers each paying 2.5%. Most Allegheny County municipalities outside city limits charge a combined 2%, though some deviate higher, up to 5% in a few communities, so always verify the rate for your specific municipality. On a $250,000 home, the difference between a 2% suburb and the City of Pittsburgh is $3,750 out of your pocket at closing. It's one of the most important numbers to understand before you decide where to focus your search.

At minimum: a general home inspection, a radon test, and a termite inspection. Pittsburgh has some of the highest residential radon levels in the country, and our older housing stock means aging sewer laterals are common, so a sewer line camera inspection is often worth adding. Standard reports don't always flag these unless you ask. The Knox Team also brings tools to every showing that most agents don't own: a moisture meter for hidden water damage, a drone for roofs we can't safely reach, and an outlet tester for grounding faults. It's an added layer of due diligence before you ever pay for the formal inspection.

Yes. Relocation is a Knox Team specialty. We offer Matterport 3D virtual tours, 4K video walkthroughs, and live FaceTime showings so you can tour every room of every home from anywhere in the world. If you have a VR headset or Apple Vision Pro, you can even walk the home in virtual reality. We handle all the coordination, paperwork, and scheduling while you're not local, and we know Pittsburgh neighborhoods the way only someone who grew up here can: not just the listing data, but what it actually feels like to live in Mt. Lebanon versus Squirrel Hill versus Cranberry. You don't have to fly to Pittsburgh to fall in love with your next home.

A few things you won't find anywhere else. The Knox Team built Threshold Signature, a buyer program that includes a 1-year home warranty, a $100 rekey credit, private AI home search, white glove closing coordination, a digital homeowners portal, and Good Neighbors VIP access, all at no additional cost. Craig Knox brings tools to every showing that most agents don't own: moisture meters, drones, electrical testers. We're also one of the few Pittsburgh teams with integrated mortgage and title partners, which means tighter coordination and closings in as few as 15 days. And for every home we close, we fund the rescue of a shelter pet through Paws Across Pittsburgh. Everyone deserves a home, including the ones with four legs.

In short, a buyer’s agency contract establishes an official relationship with you, your agent, and their brokerage and ensures many legal protections for all parties involved. As a client, your agent now has a fiduciary duty to you meaning they must maintain confidentiality, disclose any material facts both good and bad to you, obey your wishes even if it’s against their advice. It also establishes agreement with how compensation is provided, what services you get for that compensation, or any other terms and conditions such as length of the contract.

The long form answer is:

Obedience: Your Realtor should ultimately represent your interest and respect your decisions irrespective of their personal preferences. For example, when multiple offers – A and B are presented to you as the Seller, and you chose to go with offer B rather than A; a realtor is professionally obliged to advise you but still respect your choice.

Loyalty: A Realtor’s loyalty and best interests are mainly to his/her clients and to no one else; this loyalty is even above personal gains including but not limited to agent's commission, particularly in competing-offer situations.

Disclosure: Ethically speaking, a Realtor is bound to disclose any and all material facts; including information in their possession that might be of any benefit to you as their clients before, during, and after the transaction process. For instance, your agent must disclose any information that may place you in the driver's seat or aid you in negotiating a better deal.

Confidentiality: Simply put, a Realtor is not expected to disclose any information learned about you, your business, financial or personal affairs, or motivations to others, including but not limited to the other parties in the transaction. This duty is for life and it survives the closing of the transaction unless a court of law instructs a disclosure of this duty.

Accountability: A good Realtor should be able to account for all documents and funds in the transaction. Accurate reporting of all funds relating to the transaction and their ultimate disposition is a fiduciary duty.

Reasonable care/diligence: Realtors are expected to advise intelligently on prices, inspections, negotiations, repairs, and many other aspects of a transaction. Remember, your realtor is not a jack of all trade, therefore, in case you ask your Realtor some questions regarding things out of his/her expertise, he/she will advise you on how and where to obtain the information you inquire.