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Perhaps the question was misunderstood. The buyer rarely pays a fee to the agent who helps him. The only situation where that occurs is where the seller is representing himself or has used a discount broker merely to list his property on the mls and does not offer to pay any other real estate agents. In those rare cases a buyer would need to pay a buyer-agent directly, any amount they ( buyer and buyer-agent) agree upon. Or the buyer may instead just hire an attorney, do all the finding and negotiations himself, and no real estate agents are involved.
Otherwise, and conventionally, the seller hires a listing agent who collects their fee as the property is sold. To speed up the selling, the listing agent agrees to pay another agent who helps the buyer (a buyer-agent) a portion of that fee and the buyer doesn’t pay one penny. Buyers sign contracts with their buyer-agents however since the listing agent needs to arrange who to pay.
"but if the Seller is paying nothing to the buyer's agent, then doesn't the Buyer have to pay that 3%?"
Yes. A buyer's agent works for the buyer. That agent will find a property suitable to the buyer and will not waste the buyer's time. A good buyer's agent does not just browse listings on line, he finds properties that are not listed at all. Often, an owner is thinking of selling and a broker representing a buyer can offer the present owner a quick sale.
As to the original question; in my 30 years of experience, less than 10% of buyers are represented by a broker or agent. In Maine, we have something called a "transaction agent". He doesn't represent anybody. he just fills out the offer. In the industry, that is referred to as a "monkey with a pencil".
You get what you pay for.
Buy the way, pay no attention to what some spammer put under my name up there. I am not a "real estate agent" and have not been one for a quarter of a century. I am a broker.
This question is intended mainly for Realtors, but if others would like to offer an opinion or comment, feel free to do so.
My question is: In your area, what percentage of the buyers who buy a house have a written Buyer's Agreement with an agent/company?
Question #2: What is the usual or customary percentage that the buyers agree to pay? I realize this rate would be negotiable (I think).
I hope that my questions aren't too personal. I can understand if you'd rather not disclose this information.
In my state, it is legally required for brokers representing buyers as their buyers agent to have a written buyers agency agreement. Anything less than 100% using buyers agency agreements yet representing themselves as fiduciaries or dual agents, you have either crooks or total ineptitude at play.
That buyers agency agreement contains a field where the buyers guarantee the agent their fee.
Most common in my county is a 2.4% fee. 90% of resales go off with a 2.4% buyers agent fee.
Some agents agree up front to rebate a large portion to their buyers in exchange for not having to do any work.
Some old school agents enter 6% on their listings, with a 60/40 split, with the listing agent taking a 3.6% fee. The other 2.4% is for the buyers agent.
I don't know the percentage who use a buyers agent. It is difficult to gauge, as dual agency is still allowed here.
I'm sorry to be accusatory, but I can't help but ask - what's your motivation or reasoning for all of these questions?
As I've said before at least once - all of these issues have been discussed in the recent past on this forum. You could easily use the Search function and read up on the past topics. Most are within a year; not much has changed. There's also some lengthy discussion of current lawsuit(s) involving consumers (Sellers) and NAR, and the commission model/process, and whether that should be changed by law or not.
You might get answers to everything you're wondering about.
And all of it is Google-able. First non-ad result has the answer.
I'm a little confused by that statement. If the Buyer signs an agreement with his agent to pay the agent/company 3%, then doesn't that guarantee that the buyer's agent will receive 3% of the sale price on anything the buyer buys? I understand that some or perhaps all of that 3% may come from the commission paid by the Seller, but if the Seller is paying nothing to the buyer's agent, then doesn't the Buyer have to pay that 3%?
Don't let yourself get caught up in semantics.
All the money comes from the buyer. Whether that money is included in the "purchase price" or is moved from the buyer to someone else as a "fee", is just a matter of terminology.
Interesting stuff to know, and not something I would have searched for myself. That's one of the nice things about forums. Sometimes a question that's asked answers a question someone else didn't even realize they had - and they learn something new just by someone else bringing up the topic.
Interesting stuff to know, and not something I would have searched for myself. That's one of the nice things about forums. Sometimes a question that's asked answers a question someone else didn't even realize they had - and they learn something new just by someone else bringing up the topic.
Thank you. I'm glad to know that other people are also benefitting from my questions and the (mostly) graciously provided answers.
To Bo: Actually I live in two states, both of which have lots of out-of-state buyers so I'm interested in knowing what practices are common around the country and not just in my back yard. If you're really interested in knowing which two states, you could use the search function since I have answered that question several times in the past year on the City-Data forum.
Thank you. I'm glad to know that other people are also benefitting from my questions and the (mostly) graciously provided answers.
To Bo: Actually I live in two states, both of which have lots of out-of-state buyers so I'm interested in knowing what practices are common around the country and not just in my back yard. If you're really interested in knowing which two states, you could use the search function since I have answered that question several times in the past year on the City-Data forum.
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