GA Real Estate practices (Atlanta: for sale, rental, broker)

[cao2007]

We are hoping to purchase a house sometime this year in Atlanta and I managed to get my hands on a buyer's agreement from a well-known real estate company. One thing that I noticed in this agreement is that there is a clause stating that -- in the event that the seller does not pay the real estate commission, then the buyer is responsible for paying his or her real estate agent's commission. I've purchased homes in VA, Texas, and NC and don't remember seeing this before. Was I just not reading my agreements carefully or is this something peculiar to GA (or new to the real estate biz).

Just curious. Is it hard for real estate agents to "collect" on their commissions? It always seemed it was written into contracts and settlements etc.

Thanks.

[jln69]

The buyers agency agreement in NC does have this paragraph also. Usually in a case like this it is with a FSBO. I've only run across this with buyers on a few occassions and I let them know that I am not being compensated before we enter the home.

If a home is listed in the MLS usually most of the time the buyers agent is getting compensated.

That paragraph is also used for if there is an occassion that the buyers agent is not receiving full compensation and the agent will usually put in there that the buyers pay the difference. If this is the case, I let it go depending on the client or I tell them that I am not getting compensated for the full amount and they will have to pay the difference. But like I said I usually have this all worked out before we enter a home.

This does not come up all that often. This is how it works in NC. I'm sure GA is somewhat similiar but your best bet is to ask your Realtor.

[IntownHomes247]

It works the same way in Georgia as jln69 describes.

That paragraph generally would only come into play if you were interested in a listing that was being sold For Sale By Onwer (FSBO) or where the seller was using a reduced service agency and offered a reduced commission to the buyer's agent.

Most sellers, even most FSBOs, are quite willing to offer a commission to the agent who brings the buyer, so it's only very rarely an issue.

[netdragon]

Both properties I own in ATL had the seller cover the commission, and nobody acted like that wasn't the standard thing. If in doubt, get it in writing :-)

[deja-zebbie]

I agree with netdragon "if in doubt, get it in writing".

In our neck of the woods (rural area south of Atlanta) attorneys do the closings. I could be wrong but I think that a lot (if not all of Georgia) requires that.

We were renting for a year in a rural area where the intown real estate brokers were constantly bickering (one has since gone out of business). We had used a national firm for our rental and I had planned on using them for buying a house (though we were doing all the looking, etc.), but the sellers broker was fighting big time with the folks we planned on using and so we were offered a BIZARRE contract with bizarre financial clauses. And, I'm pretty sure that there was something in there about US paying the commission if the seller didn't pay!!!! This was from the local office of a NATIONAL real estate company.
After reading the contract they offered us for their services we decided to forego our own agent and just use our attorney for everything and it worked out GREAT for us. We had our attorney go over ALL paperwork before signing and make changes (which were accepted by the sellers agent). OUR attorney wouldn't let the purchase proceed without a land survey ($300 bucks) and that worked out even better (we ended up with more land). Since our attorney was handling the purchase for us (which cost about us just a couple of hundred over the regular closing costs) he insisted on a land survey because he told us it was important to do in case we wanted to later sell our house so that there were no legal complications. We added a lot of stuff to the contract (which our attorney reviewed and made suggestions about) including our satisfaction inspection by a certified home inspector of our choice, the removal of some encroaching fencing, even down to how close to closing the grass would be cut (day before closing) and a lot of other things that pertain to an historic home. When it came time for closing OUR attorney did the closing so we felt REALLY comfortable.

Of course we were buying a "pre-owned home" -- our home is over 100 yeas old so that makes a difference. We went through a LOT of home inspections before we decided on the home to buy. And, as far as I'm concerned whether the home one is interested in is old or new a GOOD home inspection is real important.

I don't know if this would work for you, but it sure worked for us.

zebbie

I don't know if this would work for you, but it sure did for us. We had househunted for almost a year (as we were looking for an historic house) and frankly we were FED up with the crap we had experienced with the various sellers real estate agents (in our area and various near by towns). Also in selling our home before moving here we had had good experiences with OUR real estate agent but our buyers agent tried to nix the sale in a LOT of ways (I guess so they would buy a house he had listed).

[cao2007]

thanks for the feedback. I can see with the rise of the FSBOs and the alternative real estate offices, real estate agents have to protect themselves. It seems like, if I get a good agent, we can come up with some type of agreement about how to handle this commission issue before I sign any contract. In other words, I can choose to not buy a house that is not listed or where the seller won't pay the commission.

Deja-zebbie, I feel your pain about your real estate experience. My first four real estate transactions went smooth as silk, but the last one three years ago was about the worst experience of my life. (We were buyers) I'm having a hard time even talking to real estate agents about representing me in an Atlanta for my next home purchase. My husband and I felt that NO ONE was representing our interests -- neither our agent or her company. The agent we have right now (selling our house in NC) is excellent -- a friend recommended her.

I feel that a good real estate agent is worth every penny of the commission -- but a bad one can really ruin your life if you yourself aren't an expert in real estates (and if you are, you wouldn't need an agent, right?). That's why I am pledging to report on my experience with real estate agents on Angie's list or Kudzu.com.