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I know you're responding to someone else with a whopping post count of 11 I might add ,
but your response brings up a question that I have.
Are real estate agents - realtors? or are they 2 different things? and if so, what is the difference?
All Realtors are real estate agents but not all real estate agents are Realtors. A real estate agent is licensed by the state to engage in real estate brokerage...and a Realtor is a licensed real estate agent who also happens to belong to the National Association of REALTORS®, joining through the local Realtor association. REALTOR® is a registered trademark name, kind of like Kleenex used to be.
Most people think that "Realtor" refers to any real estate agent. So...if you weren't aware of the distinction, you're not alone!
No, technically, the buyer is not paying the agent. But beyond that, yes, the agent is supposed to guide their clients, but we can only guide so far with the information provided. If a buyer says they want to make a cash offer, BUT that they won't actually have the cash until their house sells, the only way to protect the client is to put the offer with a contingency. The only way not to have the contingency is to already have the cash and be willing to close on the house even if the other house doesn't sell, or risk losing all the earnest money if the house doesn't sell because they won't have the cash.
For the agent to have written a contingency into their cash offer, that's protecting their client and guiding them. Not putting in the contingency would be leaving them out to dry, but also not disclosing the situation to the sellers properly because the sellers would go livid on them if they terminated because their buyers didn't close on the house allowing the cash to be available.
Congratulations! You beat all the other agents to the "technicality." As long as the buyer is the one bringing the cash to the deal, he's paying his agent, and the seller's as well. But you knew that and at least had the honesty to note it was a technicality.
Regardless, as you've noted, the buyer's agent is making money on the deal and has the fiduciary responsibility to the buyer but should also be cognizant that they are supposed to know more about the machinations of buying and selling than their client. If the agent is unable to understand the buyer's position or convey to them how the decisions they make may affect a purchase perhaps they should consider another line of work.
Certainly the idea that the client is "beating up on the agent" is pretty farfetched and the advice that mistakes were made in the offer should have been made by the agent before the fact, rather than you today; likewise, how to make it stronger.
As long as the buyer is the one bringing the cash to the deal, he's paying his agent, and the seller's as well.
This is a point which gets argued round and round. However, as a matter of fact--with an emphasis upon the word "fact"--it is the Listing Agent who is paying the Buyer's Agent in the vast majority of real estate transactions. The Listing Agent does so through a written agreement, usually embodied in an MLS listing agreement, to compensate the Buyer's Agent for their role in helping the Listing Agent sell the house. This is rather customary because, as everyone knows, Buyer's Agents do most of the work.
1: Both buyer and seller, are to make full disclosure in a real estate transaction. You were offering cash, but it had to come from the sale of your present home. Under the circumstances you had to make it contingent on the sale of your home, as to withhold this information and not be able to close as your home does not close, would be borderline fraud if it did not close.
2: A contingent offer such as yours, will always be the last one chosen, if there are equal offers without contingencies.
3: In a hot market, there are most often multiple offers for a seller to chose from. And they will give the ones that have made offers an opportunity to make another higher or better offer, a chance to make another bid. Only way to be fair to both buyers and sellers. Due to laws on confidentiality, they cannot reveal how much the offer that beat them was, so the buyer has to make up their own mind on the amount of the raised offer if they want to make one.
Yes, the Realtor treated you right. They followed the laws and regulations. They presented your offer, and there were other offer(s) made, that beat your out by either not having a contingency for a home to sell, or offered more money or both. The sellers selected the offer they preferred. You turned down the opportunity to change your offer and be more competitive but you chose not to. You are the one that took your offer out of consideration by doing so. In a hot market area, that is how things happen. You were give the chance to change your offer, but you did not, so you were just beat out by someone else. Don't blame the Realtors involved.
Congratulations! You beat all the other agents to the "technicality." As long as the buyer is the one bringing the cash to the deal, he's paying his agent, and the seller's as well. But you knew that and at least had the honesty to note it was a technicality.
Well technically the the seller receives money from the buyer and then pays the commission. Technically listing broker receives the money and the pays a co-broke to the company representing the buyer. All that is divvied up on the settlement statement.
The companies then pay the agents. Technically. But really, who cares?
All Realtors are real estate agents but not all real estate agents are Realtors. A real estate agent is licensed by the state to engage in real estate brokerage...and a Realtor is a licensed real estate agent who also happens to belong to the National Association of REALTORS®, joining through the local Realtor association. REALTOR® is a registered trademark name, kind of like Kleenex used to be.
Most people think that "Realtor" refers to any real estate agent. So...if you weren't aware of the distinction, you're not alone!
Realtors are a trade organization that lobby for home ownership, home owners rights, and real estate professionals.
One plus is that Realtors do have ethical accountability that is a greater than that of the state real estate commissions. If an agent violates the Code of Ethics the organization can reprimand or fine the agent. The worst ethically challenged agents in my market aren't Realtors which stinks because it makes it virtually impossible to do anything about their actions.
It would have been a real simple matter for the realtor to tell us "The reality is that right now a contingent on sale offer for this particular house would most likely not be a good idea in this particular market. May I send you some other homes while you wait for your house to close in two weeks?" Honesty is what I appreciate. And just to note, when our original contingent offer was declined and we asked her next best steps, she should have once again said, "let's wait".
the system isn't rigged, and you weren't done wrong by the agent you hired to represent you.
yes, for you to make an offer using that agent, then you had to sign an agreement for them to represent you.
if another offer was received before the sellers agreed to yours, then you were informed of that, though there's no legal requirement to let you know - they could have simply accepted another offer. I wonder about the actual wording of "several stronger offers and you needed to offer more".
Tis easily true that a cash offer at the same or higher price occurred, and that was a better offer than you made.
She could have/possibly should have let you know how string the market there was, and the chance that other offers might occur before you could get it under contract.
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