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I am looking to purchase a house in northern Nassau county. I'm targeting just one or two school districts and doing lots of research online. There is very limited inventory in my price range and targeted area, so there are less than a dozen houses I want to see. My price range is well above the average house sale price in the county and I am very likely to buy in the next 6 months.
Considering my situation (which should be highly attractive to an agent), I would like to find a competent and experienced buyer's agent who is willing to provide us with a substantial commission rebate or apply part of their commission to closing costs. If the purchase price is multiples of the average and commissions are a percentage of this, it seems to me that an agent could rebate 50% or more of their commission and still be very well compensated for their time and expertise.
Is this line of reasoning sensible? Ideally I would like to sign an exclusive buyer's agent agreement with someone with these terms spelled out in advance of starting to look at houses. Will I be able to find someone who is competent and experienced and flexible enough to do this? If anyone has a recommendation please feel free to share it with me. It would be very helpful in advance of calling or emailing dozens of agents.
Paraphrasing your post: because you perceive yourself to be qualified, self-educated on the area, and a overall nice-guy, and only want to see a dozen or so properties - you want a buyers agent to SPLIT his/her 2% commission that they might receive from the listing agent with you?
I am not an agent, either buyer's or seller's. I am however, working with an agent to sell my home and currently am in negotiations with a buyer. Please forgive me, for I do not know you, but if I were an agent I would not want to do business with you. Here is why, before you are even out of the gate you are looking to discount the expertise of the agent. You state that you present a very attractive situation to an agent. What makes you think you are so very different than a lot of other buyers who pay the agent what they deserve. Again, I don't know you or your situation, however, unless you are an all cash deal, I would suggest that you might need a better approach. The commission is split between the listing broker and the agency and the buyers agent and her agency. You are basically asking her to do a lot of work for almost nothing.
I guess my real question for you is, you seem to have done a lot of your own work, so why bother with an agent all? You have narrowed the area and school district and seem to have researched it, down to the six or so homes, so why do you now feel the need for an agent who you are looking toward for his/her expertise but are not willing to pay? The RE market is not as easy a piece of cake to navigate as it was back in the height of the market. There are appraisals problems and COC and COO problems, not to mention the lenders themselves, who have been burned. I suggest you find a few buyers agents, and speak with them, but since an agent can make or break your deal, I personally would not play the game you are trying to, but that is just me. My broker is worth every penny she is getting.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam777
I am looking to purchase a house in northern Nassau county. I'm targeting just one or two school districts and doing lots of research online. There is very limited inventory in my price range and targeted area, so there are less than a dozen houses I want to see. My price range is well above the average house sale price in the county and I am very likely to buy in the next 6 months.
Considering my situation (which should be highly attractive to an agent), I would like to find a competent and experienced buyer's agent who is willing to provide us with a substantial commission rebate or apply part of their commission to closing costs. If the purchase price is multiples of the average and commissions are a percentage of this, it seems to me that an agent could rebate 50% or more of their commission and still be very well compensated for their time and expertise.
Is this line of reasoning sensible? Ideally I would like to sign an exclusive buyer's agent agreement with someone with these terms spelled out in advance of starting to look at houses. Will I be able to find someone who is competent and experienced and flexible enough to do this? If anyone has a recommendation please feel free to share it with me. It would be very helpful in advance of calling or emailing dozens of agents.
Thanks in advance!
It's good that you have done so much research to "limit" what you are actually interested in, you will be a well informed buyer. Regardless of how much work you chose to do a buyers agent is a realtor who is identified in writing as having the buyers not the sellers best interests during the negotiation process. Traditionally both agents goals were for the seller to have the better end of the deal because they pay the sales commission. With the advent of a buyers realtor other parties are on notice that this agents primary goal is their buyer.
I think you would be very hard pressed to find someone willing to split/reduce/share what they make you might be better to have the sales realtor represent both sides and work a reduction that way, but I wouldn't do it.
Call the individual listing agents on your own to see your targeted properties and negotiate on your own. You are far more likely to find a listing agent willing to negotiate part of their 4% into the purchase price of the home than a buyer's agent willing to give you back half of their 2% commission.
So what would happen when you have to see the 13th home? Would you pay full commission then? What happens if the house fails the inspection and you start from square one? What happens if you start looking at a 3rd school district?
IMHO, you get what you pay for. I also think when people get paid less than what they typically do, the are less will to do the work required.
I just asked similar question in the real estate professionals forum. You may want to check it out.
Thanks for pointing this out. It's an interesting discussion.
I think the other comments miss my point. There is a huge difference between the commission on a $500,000 house (the median house sale price in Nassau county) and a $2 million or $5 million house. The agent working on the high-priced house doesn't do 4x or 10x as much work and isn't 4x or 10x more experienced or better. But a buyer paying a full commission on a higher-priced house is paying out tens of thousands of dollars more. If there are hundreds of agents willing to show buyers $500,000 houses and earn a full commission for their hard work and expertise, they should be thrilled to make even more money by taking 50% of the commission on a $2 million or $5 million house and rebate 50%.
Also I understand that realtors frequently pay finder's fees to other realtors for referring a client equal to 25% or more. So clearly there are plenty of agents happy to work for less than a full commission. I was referred by a neighbor to an agent who sounds very eager to work with me despite the fact that he's paying a sizable percentage of his commission to my neighbor.
Something tells me that if I email 10 agents, I will get responses from a few willing to rebate part of their commission. I'm just looking for a few recommendations before I start doing that.
Thanks for pointing this out. It's an interesting discussion.
I think the other comments miss my point. There is a huge difference between the commission on a $500,000 house (the median house sale price in Nassau county) and a $2 million or $5 million house. The agent working on the high-priced house doesn't do 4x or 10x as much work and isn't 4x or 10x more experienced or better. But a buyer paying a full commission on a higher-priced house is paying out tens of thousands of dollars more. If there are hundreds of agents willing to show buyers $500,000 houses and earn a full commission for their hard work and expertise, they should be thrilled to make even more money by taking 50% of the commission on a $2 million or $5 million house and rebate 50%.
Also I understand that realtors frequently pay finder's fees to other realtors for referring a client equal to 25% or more. So clearly there are plenty of agents happy to work for less than a full commission. I was referred by a neighbor to an agent who sounds very eager to work with me despite the fact that he's paying a sizable percentage of his commission to my neighbor.
Something tells me that if I email 10 agents, I will get responses from a few willing to rebate part of their commission. I'm just looking for a few recommendations before I start doing that.
In NYS realtors are not allowed to pay "finder's fees" to laypeople (i.e., people who are not registered real estate brokers or real estate salespeople in NYS). I know this because I know a sales agent who printed up a bunch of mailers to send out that offered a finder's fee to anyone for finding her new listings and she was not allowed to mail it by her broker as per state law.
People also overexaggerate how much a real estate salesperson gets. The commission is usually split four ways (listing broker, listing salesperson, broker whose office makes the sale, salesperson who makes the sale). So if you want half the total commission, you need to make this "deal" with the four people that end up being involved with your sale.
Another thing, if someone offered to do business with your company, but only if YOU personally would give them half the money you stand to make on the deal, would YOU do it? Or would you find that an insulting and greedy proposition?
PS: Let us know how you make out with your emails.
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