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We haven't started our search yet with the agent but had a brief first phone conversation with him. Per mls, the inventory of the house we look for is limited. The agent told me that he has the same listing as the one I can look up myself on-line. He doesn't have an access on the foreclosure list at the local banks because they don't want to pay broker fee.
We knew someone at those banks and perhaps may get some info. If we find the house by ourselves, are we obligated to pay him any fees if the banks refuse to pay him?
If he starts showing houses on the mls, but we don't like any of them but one we find by our own? Do we need to pay him for any fee? Thanks!
We haven't started our search yet with the agent but had a brief first phone conversation with him. Per mls, the inventory of the house we look for is limited. The agent told me that he has the same listing as the one I can look up myself on-line. He doesn't have an access on the foreclosure list at the local banks because they don't want to pay broker fee.
We knew someone at those banks and perhaps may get some info. If we find the house by ourselves, are we obligated to pay him any fees if the banks refuse to pay him?
If he starts showing houses on the mls, but we don't like any of them but one we find by our own? Do we need to pay him for any fee? Thanks!
If you didn't sign anything saying you would pay him, no you do not need to pay him.
We haven't started our search yet with the agent but had a brief first phone conversation with him. Per mls, the inventory of the house we look for is limited. The agent told me that he has the same listing as the one I can look up myself on-line. He doesn't have an access on the foreclosure list at the local banks because they don't want to pay broker fee.
We knew someone at those banks and perhaps may get some info. If we find the house by ourselves, are we obligated to pay him any fees if the banks refuse to pay him?
If he starts showing houses on the mls, but we don't like any of them but one we find by our own? Do we need to pay him for any fee? Thanks!
A "Buyer Broker Agreement" is what we have that you would have signed that would commit you to pay commission. So as mentioned before if you haven't signed anything you should be in the clear. If you have signed, read it very carefully. Your agent does not sound too motivated by your description. jmo. Banks I deal with don't care about commissions, it's all bottom line for them. If you bring them an offer, and the bottom line works for them, they don't care if the buyers agent is getting 1% or 3%.
No, you do not have to pay anything for "showing you houses on the MLS". If you find a home yourself go ahead and buy it. But..
There is more to finding a home than just looking on the MLS. Once you find the home there is extensive work and research regarding the status of the home, the condition of the home, negotiating the best offer, executing the best contract, coordinating escrow, keeping the process moving through to close and more. That is what an agent gets paid for (usually by the seller, not buyer). If you do not trust this agent go find one you do trust.
I am concerned that you believe you can find your own home, contract for it and close it without the help of a professional.
You will just be back on this forum complaining about how the bank "fleeced" you.
You seem to be a bit confused about the process of buyers who work with agents. The agent is not paid commission by the buyer. When a house is found that a buyer wants to put an offer on (whether the house was found by the agent or whether the buyer found the house online and told his agent that he wanted to see it) a buyer cannot write up an offer to present it to the seller without an agent. (Now there are FSBOs where neither the buyer or the seller has to have an agent, but I won't even go into all the ways that a buyer can get screwed in thet format. That's an whole different thread...).
Once the buyer decides they want to submit an offer this is where the real work of the buyer's agent comes in. They research comps so they can advise the buyer of the best offer price, they help negotiagate the final price to an amount that the buyer is satidfied with. The help coordinate the inspection and often negotiate once again either repairs to be done or the price to be reduced based on anything troublesome the inspection turned up. Then they work closely with the lender making sure everything is coordinated in a timely fashion to ensure the buyer can close on time. I'm not even going into the myriad of hiccups that can happen along the way that the agent has to be prepared for and resolve.
I hope you now see that an agent's job is very much more than merely finding houses that the buyer might like. And the best thing of all? The agent's commission is paid by the seller's side! So, if you like being proactive and doing research on your on and finding houses to bring to your agent, that's great. However, please don't discount the immense amount of work the agent has to do to ensure that you do get this house at a price and in a timely manner that you are happy with.
You seem to be a bit confused about the process of buyers who work with agents. The agent is not paid commission by the buyer.
You know some buyers do indeed pay their buyer agents. I was just telling an OP on another thread that it isn't true that sellers always pay the buyer agent fee. It is misleading to say this, I think. I have had my buyer clients pay my fee in the past or split it with the seller, especially in a situation where there is no MLS co-operation involved.
So, OP the others are correct in that if you haven't signed a buyer agency agreement with the buyer agent with includes a fee due, then you owe them nothing as compensation. You would just need to decide at that point if you have the skills to represent yourself.
We haven't started our search yet with the agent but had a brief first phone conversation with him. Per mls, the inventory of the house we look for is limited. The agent told me that he has the same listing as the one I can look up myself on-line. He doesn't have an access on the foreclosure list at the local banks because they don't want to pay broker fee.
We knew someone at those banks and perhaps may get some info. If we find the house by ourselves, are we obligated to pay him any fees if the banks refuse to pay him?
If he starts showing houses on the mls, but we don't like any of them but one we find by our own? Do we need to pay him for any fee? Thanks!
You are only required to pay a Broker when you have an agency agreement and purchase a home during the time period of that agreement.
However, show some decency and have respect for the agent and his/her time spent showing you homes and doing research. If you don't want to pay commission consider an agreement to pay for hourly services provided much like a consultant (again paid through the Broker). That would be the ethical thing to do.
So many Buyers use Realtors' time up and kick them to the curb because it is to their financial advantage to do so. How would you like it if your employer treated you similarly?
Once the buyer decides they want to submit an offer this is where the real work of the buyer's agent comes in. They research comps so they can advise the buyer of the best offer price, they help negotiagate the final price to an amount that the buyer is satidfied with. The help coordinate the inspection and often negotiate once again either repairs to be done or the price to be reduced based on anything troublesome the inspection turned up. Then they work closely with the lender making sure everything is coordinated in a timely fashion to ensure the buyer can close on time. I'm not even going into the myriad of hiccups that can happen along the way that the agent has to be prepared for and resolve.
My agent was highly valuable and we really appreciated her service. However, to be fair, facts are as I see them. In North Carolina, at least our area (RTP), it's typically 3% buyer 3% seller. At lease this is what our agent told us.
Our agent did an enormous amount as I mentioned, and her network was critical for getting us a house. HOWEVER. If I had the time and understanding and a network of professionals I can trust, I feel pretty confident in skipping the agent. What we paid her for is use of her MLS database, and her network. (which i don't have a problem with) I really didn't save much if any time by using an agent, since she was just a pass through...and actually negotiations take longer with a agent (the chain is usually buyer to buyers agent to sellers agent to seller) I can totally see how people will feel ripped off if their agents sucked though, and its a good profession which doesn't really require all that much (my mother is an agent as well).
When closing costs approach 10% of the cost of the house, then it makes it very painful to actually move up in the world, since every time you take a new job and move, you get to sell a house (big closing costs) and buy another one (big closing costs). This is bringing down the productivity of the nation as a whole, since for this very reason, it may not make sense to get a better job, because I can't afford paying these professionals.
For example, we bought our home at 250k 2 years ago. Its now worth 220k. We can take the 30k hit, it won't be fun though. However, now we have to pay god knows what in closing costs, i am assuming 10k more. Add another 10k for the next home we are buying, and we are looking at the down payment. So after 2 years we are losing a vast amount, and the bulk of it is from the huge fees that realtors are demanding (and getting away with). I'd like a job where I spend maybe a few weeks effort overall and get paid 10k.
We are much better off than most people in this country, we have six figure income, and hope by the end of the year to have 200k income. YET...we can't really afford a house. What does this say about how desparate our nations straits are when even at that salary level you can't afford a house. We figure after a year we'll be able to make another downpayment, and it will be fine, but for now we are going to be renting a piece of crap house because our nation's economy is so screwed up.
Just my two cents.
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, I was just going to make the same comment after also participating in that other thread.
