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Can I be my own buyer's agent and ask for a discount on the sale price.
When I call the Realtor representing a house on Zillow and he shows me the house (he is the seller's rep) does he automatically become my Realtor because he showed me the house? I don't want this, how do I make sure this doesn't happen.
You tell him you are "Unrepresented" and not looking for an agent.
You make sure you are talking to the listing agent.
And, you work within the parameters established by the state in which you reside.
My answers are accurate for North Carolina.
In short, no, you cannot receive the commission by not having your own agent.
The commission is a completely separate CONTRACT between the seller and the listing brokerage. The listing brokerage then has the opportunity to offer some of the commission to the buyer's agent. If there is no buyer's agent, there is no one to split anything with, hence, the listing agent and brokerage get the full amount the seller has agreed to pay him for bringing a Ready, Willing, and Able buyer to his property.
The purchase agreement is a contract between buyer and seller, not between the buyer, seller, and agent(s).
In short, no, you cannot receive the commission by not having your own agent.
The OP said he wants a discount instead...
I can see where the OP is coming from in trying to cut out the middle man: If the average house costs $200k, the "middle man" (all of the third parties involved) gets $12k and for what: taking a few low-res photos, writing a short and often semi-literate description, standard paperwork, and picking up the phone and showing the house to, on average, 10-20 buyers?
I know that the dealers/brokers sometimes pay out of pocket to make the deal happen -- when the buyer and seller are close, but do not quite meet each other despite much negotiation.
If you are the listing agent, and you have two offers:
$200k, where you agreed to pay 3% (or $6k) to the buyer's agent
$195k, where you didn't.
will you not pay $5k out of pocket to make the second deal happen?
If the OP wants the buyer's agent's share of the commission, they would have to negotiate that directly with the listing agent. As FalconheadWest said, there is a contract between the seller and the listing agent that specifies how much the seller pays the listing agent to get the house sold. If the listing agent chooses to offer a part of their commission to another agent to not only bring the buyer but do all the work on the buyer's side of the transaction, that is their decision. They could also decide to do ALL THE WORK themselves if a buyer's agent is not involved - the work and liability doesn't just go away if there's no buyer's agent, after all. The seller cannot unilaterally say, "give this buyer part of the money I paid you"; the buyer has to negotiate directly with the listing agent for that, or they are guilty of interfering with a contract to which they are not a party. The precise legalities of contract interference may vary from place to place, but the actual fact of what they are doing or trying to do, does not.
OP, think of it this way. I'm not sure what you do for a living, or whether you're paid on commission or by salary. But let's say salary, a salary that you negotiated with your boss to be paid, and let's say you work for a boss who has customers. Suppose you are doing your job, and customer comes in and says to your boss, I want to buy what you're selling, but I want you to take away half of over here's salary and give it to me so I can do it without spending as much". "This guy over here" being you. Is that the right thing, the ethical thing, for the customer to do?
Does that make it more clear to you what you're asking if you can do? Sure, you can ask, and you might even find a listing agent who will agree to it. But does that make it right?
And what I said is that the OP has no right to "change" the contract between the seller and the listing brokerage. That is a separate contract.
He may reduce the sales price by 3% if he wants...that does not change the contract between the listing agent and the seller. The Seller & listing agent remain free to discuss at that point what, if any, modification that would like to make or not make. Nobody is under any obligation to modify a contract in this case.
This is a common question b/c people understandably want to cut out middle men in big dollar transactions.
Short answer: You may ask for a discounted price, but the seller is still obligated to pay his listing agent, whatever is agreed to in that contract. The listing agent & seller are free to modify that contract if they want to, but neither is obligated to do so. Agents consider it unethical to ask the seller & listing agent to modify their agreement, some even think it is illegal. You are unlikely to make any agent like you for asking, but you are free to do so.
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