Should I sign a Contract with a Realtor? (real estate, condo)

[disneybride]

Hi - I am a first-time Home Buyer and the realtor we had planned to use has asked us to sign a contract before we look at any more houses. I've read in several places that this is a stupid move and that I should only do it if the state requires it - does PA require realtor contracts for Buyers?

Any opinions - good or bad - all welcome.
Thanks

[kimrocktherealtor]

PA does NOT require anything like that. If they want you to sign a consumer notice, that's fine, sign away.. It's a legal thing basically stating who represents who in a transaction. Now if they want you to sign a "buyers agency agreement" - DONT do it. It's just a way to trap you into buying a house from only them. At some point will you have to sign one? Yes.. Right away? No. I actually wait until after my buyers have found a house they like and want to put an offer in on before having them sign it - and even then it's not because I want them to sign it, it's because my broker requires I have it in their file for the file to go to closing. If your realtor has to keep you loyal to him/her by having a signed piece of paper, then they aren't all they are cracked up to be. I personally want people to WANT to buy a house from me, and if they don't want to, they can leave at any time. I would never want someone staying with me due to guilt or fear of a contract.

[luvdavy]

I can't say that I agree with that about not signing a buyer's agreement all the way. I'm not a Realtor but I work with them all the time. There is nothing worse than a real estate agent who spends weeks and untold amounts of gas money showing someone all the available homes, and then the person finds one on the internet, calls the listing agent, and goes directly through them...either to think they are saving money on the commissions (which is not true) or because they are too lazy to call that original agent. I've seen it many times, and I think if I were an agent I would require that before I spent much time helping a customer. Just my two cents.

I took a real estate course for my own education, and our teacher told us that we would be crazy NOT to require that buyer's agreement. It's protection for the agent, and in some cases for the client too.

[kimrocktherealtor]

Yes thats fine, but if her realtor is forcing her to do it and her immediate reaction isnt "of course I will sign with you! I cant imagine buying a house from anyone BUT you" then she should NOT do it. Her question was if she HAS to, no she does not HAVE to at all.

[Hillrunner]

Originally Posted by ooodsie

PA does NOT require anything like that. If they want you to sign a consumer notice, that's fine, sign away.. It's a legal thing basically stating who represents who in a transaction. Now if they want you to sign a "buyers agency agreement" - DONT do it. It's just a way to trap you into buying a house from only them. At some point will you have to sign one? Yes.. Right away? No. I actually wait until after my buyers have found a house they like and want to put an offer in on before having them sign it - and even then it's not because I want them to sign it, it's because my broker requires I have it in their file for the file to go to closing. If your realtor has to keep you loyal to him/her by having a signed piece of paper, then they aren't all they are cracked up to be. I personally want people to WANT to buy a house from me, and if they don't want to, they can leave at any time. I would never want someone staying with me due to guilt or fear of a contract.

great advice oodsie.

[Summering]

I lost getting a better deal because I was waiting for my realtor to be ready to take me to the home I knew from seeing it ( from the road) that I wanted it.
She had to babysit one of the days. I wanted to get there fast. After that day was lost......then we lost a day because she didn't have the paperwork.....until the next day. Meanwhile others got into the home and made bids. Even after we verbally agreed on a price and I had signed....but the owner hadn't been given the paperwork as yet...a bid came in. That wasn't done fast enough either. Due to the lack of that signature I had to go up by 5 thousand.
Sometimes I think I should have just gone directly to the realtor on the sign....
There was just too much time lost, and that cost me.
I really liked my realtor, and I still do.......but, that friendship cost me in the long run.
I like the "one day" buyers agent paper. Just sign the day they take you out that they are your buyers agent " that day"........Rather then being tied to someone, especially if they are not readily available.

[luvdavy]

Originally Posted by ooodsie

Yes thats fine, but if her realtor is forcing her to do it and her immediate reaction isnt "of course I will sign with you! I cant imagine buying a house from anyone BUT you" then she should NOT do it. Her question was if she HAS to, no she does not HAVE to at all.

Yes, you are right. I read the "any opinions" part and didn't pay close attention to the rest.

I can't imagine that any state would REQUIRE that. Some of the agencies might, though.

Jan

[luvdavy]

Originally Posted by Summering

I lost getting a better deal because I was waiting for my realtor to be ready to take me to the home I knew from seeing it ( from the road) that I wanted it.
She had to babysit one of the days. I wanted to get there fast. After that day was lost......then we lost a day because she didn't have the paperwork.....until the next day. Meanwhile others got into the home and made bids. Even after we verbally agreed on a price and I had signed....but the owner hadn't been given the paperwork as yet...a bid came in. That wasn't done fast enough either. Due to the lack of that signature I had to go up by 5 thousand.
Sometimes I think I should have just gone directly to the realtor on the sign....
There was just too much time lost, and that cost me.
I really liked my realtor, and I still do.......but, that friendship cost me in the long run.
I like the "one day" buyers agent paper. Just sign the day they take you out that they are your buyers agent " that day"........Rather then being tied to someone, especially if they are not readily available.

I can see your point and agree completely. My brother in law spent a year looking at a short-sale condo here because the real estate girl didn't do one thing past the first effort of letting me in to look at it, and showing me one more afterwards. He had signed it and we had to wait like 6 months before i could let one of my own Realtor friends help him.

But when I bought my condo, I first let a girl show me one that was a daughter of a girl I worked with. That was also all she did. Another guy latched on to me and took me EVERYWHERE. I kept telling him that if I decided on the first one I felt obligated to use her, and he kept saying it was ok. After spending several weeks and looking at about 20 places, I felt that I HAD to get the first one. He took it gracefully, but could have saved himself some trouble if he'd made me sign something. As well, it would have let me off the hook.

So maybe the caveat should be that you need to see how they perform BEFORE you sign anything. If they want it upfront before doing anything, I think I might walk away too.

By the way the first girl with my bro in law was a Century 21 agent, and their agency required the contract.

jan

[PeeAye Native]

Originally Posted by ooodsie

If your realtor has to keep you loyal to him/her by having a signed piece of paper, then they aren't all they are cracked up to be. I personally want people to WANT to buy a house from me, and if they don't want to, they can leave at any time. I would never want someone staying with me due to guilt or fear of a contract.

Well said.

Originally Posted by luvdavy

There is nothing worse than a real estate agent who spends weeks and untold amounts of gas money showing someone all the available homes, and then the person finds one on the internet, calls the listing agent, and goes directly through them...either to think they are ...

I'd say that situation is clearly the re agent not showing the buyers props the buyers are interested in.

My advice to the OP: Even when the boom times were happening, IMO, it was a wise idea to limit if or when you sign one of these. Example, you overwrite the boiler plate text to say "in effect or 15 days", or in effect for the properties you Mr. RE Agent have already shown us", and if you show us any more that meet our needs, we'll append it. If the agent balks, find a different agent.

Now that the tides have shifted and it's a buyers market, don't hesitate to not sign these, or better yet say to the agent, you show me your props that fit my needs, and I'll sign for those props only, and for 30 days. This will definitely weed out the slackers from those who are willing to put in the effort for you. In other words, it will week out the agents who pick the easiest buyers and prefer to earn their keep by doing the least amount of work they can.

And of course be prepare for all the the slackers will come up with for you signing the exclusive agreement: It's how we work, it's unfair to me you don't, I put in all this effort and someone else gets the comish. (Dude, if you were putting in all this effort, then it's a given you'll find me the right property.). When you hear this stuff, consider it part of sizing up the particular agent, and these are clear signs you can do better finding a different agent.

[andreaspercheron]

Some realtors request this because it protects them as your buyer agent. Here's how it works, if YOU find a home on your own and you decide to move forward on it and lets just say you decide to go with another realtor, your realtor wouldn't get any credit for the buy.
If you sign this, you have to use that realtor for a set amount of time (to be decided by you) during your home search. The realtor just doesn't want to feel like they are wasting their time driving you around everywhere if you aren't going to use him / her as your buyer rep. Hope this wasn't terribly confusing. It's up to you though whether to sign. We did several months ago and agreed to sign it for a period of three months.