Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I was only asking if I could ask for a lower commission. I wasn't asking if I could get out of my contract.
Why would you? The home Seller and their chosen listing Realtor are a team in working to sell the house. Commission is not based on potential buyer procurement unless specifically addressed in your listing agreement.
Frankly, you should have given that indivudual's name to your listing agent to follow-up with as a potential buyer since you chose not to exclude him/her from your Exclusive Right to Sell agreement.
What would you have done if another realtor had brought in the buyer? The listing agent isn't always the one who finds the buyer - so I don't see why it matters if it was you or another agent who found the buyer?
I think your agent should get the same commission she would have gotten if another agent found the buyer. That amount is 1/2 the real estate commission as stated in your contract. I would just call the agent and simply tell her what happened. Discuss with her how she will handle this transaction. Keep it pleasant. In this conversation you should say: "Since there is not another real estate agent involved, I was thinking you would still take your (2.5 or 3%) half of the full commission but that I wouldn't have to pay a buyer's broker commission. Correct?"
Usually the 5-6% commission is split between the buyer and seller's brokers and there is no reason your agent should get any more or less than the commission she would have gotten if your buyer had been brought to the deal by a real estate agent.
I think your agent should get the same commission she would have gotten if another agent found the buyer. That amount is 1/2 the real estate commission as stated in your contract. I would just call the agent and simply tell her what happened. Discuss with her how she will handle this transaction. Keep it pleasant. In this conversation you should say: "Since there is not another real estate agent involved, I was thinking you would still take your (2.5 or 3%) half of the full commission but that I wouldn't have to pay a buyer's broker commission. Correct?"
Usually the 5-6% commission is split between the buyer and seller's brokers and there is no reason your agent should get any more or less than the commission she would have gotten if your buyer had been brought to the deal by a real estate agent.
Who will represent the buyer?
Who will write the offer, handle negotiations for the buyer, schedule inspections, run comps, do showings?
How will that person be compensated?
Who will represent the buyer?
Who will write the offer, handle negotiations for the buyer, schedule inspections, run comps, do showings?
How will that person be compensated?
The buyer has already made an offer so no comps. Seller's agent can most certainly handle the contract and should. I have NEVER had my agent handle inspections as a buyer -- the buyer can do this -- and the seller has already shown the house to the buyer. Did you even read the OP?
Found our dream house online and hired a recommended agent to help us broker the deal. We loved her and all was wonderful and we decided to hire her when the time came to sell our old house.
Fast forward to us selling our old house....
A few months prior to us listing our old house a co-worker of mine saw the old house, loved it and wanted to buy it but it was not in her price range. So sadly she backed away.
Old house was listed and thanks to the awesome marketing skills of our agent we've had tons of showings but no buyers yet. (It's been on the market about 20 days).
Co-worker calls me tonight out of the blue and asks if it's still for sale and what the listing price is. She makes a close-to-listing-price offer (came into some money and could now afford it) which I would be more than happy to accept.
My question is: since I technically brought the buyer to the table and she saw the house through no result of my agent am I entitled to ask for a lower commission percent from my agent? Some unsavory people told me to cancel the listing and just hire a real estate attorney to handle the paperwork and not pay ANY commission but that just sounds horrible to me. I've also heard to just offer to pay her for her advertising and marketing costs. Is that reasonable? She worked so hard for me and I love my agent to death and don't want to shaft her but understandably I'd like to save over $14 k in commission fees too! What to ask for or do?
If I had any idea my co-worker would've popped back into the game I would've put her name on our listing contract as an exclusion buyer but I didn't.
Any thoughts?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Squirl
The buyer has already made an offer so no comps. Seller's agent can most certainly handle the contract and should. I have NEVER had my agent handle inspections as a buyer -- the buyer can do this -- and the seller has already shown the house to the buyer. Did you even read the OP?
I did read the OP.
What are the terms of the offer? They are not in the OP. Is it a full written offer, or verbal in the OP you read?
Sellers agent can handle the offer? Is this dual agency, then? The OP does not indicate whether both parties will have full representation, or facilitation, or an unrepresented buyer and a Seller with full representation.
Can you determine those points from the OP or from the offer?
Can a licensee fail to work up comps for a buyer in dual agency? Not where I work and I see nothing in the OP that would allow me to decline to pull comps. Where do you see that?
Can you determine the compensation level you defined from the listing agreement? I did not see the listing agreement in the OP.
Yep, I read the OP, think the poster is an honorable person, and as stated, is new to selling real estate transaction details. The questions asked in the OP are reasonable.
Usually the 5-6% commission is split between the buyer and seller's brokers and there is no reason your agent should get any more or less than the commission she would have gotten if your buyer had been brought to the deal by a real estate agent.
There is no "usually". The listing fee is between the seller and the listing broker. The listing broker can then state how they will compensate a buyer's broker IF THERE IS ONE, but if there isn't one, the listing broker is entitled to the agreed upon fee.
The listing broker/agent will be doing twice the work getting both buyer and seller to closing instead of a separate buyer's agent following up with the buyer making sure they're doing everything possible to get to closing. The actual contract has not been written, so the listing agent will have to write that. They probably only negotiated the price verbally, but what about all the other little things in the contract? Title policy? Home warranty? closing costs? survey? escrow company? HOA transfer fees? There are so many other fees that will come into play that each side will want to negotiate and who's going to do that?
I was only asking if I could ask for a lower commission. I wasn't asking if I could get out of my contract.
We can't really tell you the answer because we don't know what your agent will do. Just ask her and find out. Mike asked some appropriate questions that your agent can better discuss with you based on your specific situation.
Hey all, thanks for the thoughts. Just wanted to say that I talked to my agent and we discussed the situation. So now need some new opinions from you:
Because it is a straightforward contract with no negotiations (the buyer is making an offer that is totally acceptable to me: no countering involved) my agent said she would be willing to handle both sides. (My co-worker who made the offer doesn't have an agent.) I know, it's the whole dual agency thing and normally I wouldn't even entertain this thought but she said that this would cut her commission fees a good bit. Plus, I already had a pre-home inspection done and they didn't find anything so I'm pretty confident that when the buyer has her own inspection there won't be any surprises either. And the house is in line with sold comps price range so I'm not worried about the appraisal coming back too low. Everything is on the up and up.
Now, due to the simplicity of this is this a good idea or should I tell my co-worker/buyer to get her own agent? I know when dual agency happens neither one of you are truly getting the best representation but since everything is pretty straightforward in this offer/deal what would be the negatives in allowing my agent to handle both contracts?
Thanks again...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
