A commission will never get between me and the best interests of my client.
When I list a home, I most often, and by most often I mean always ask for 6% commission to sell the home. After all I am going to give half of that money away to an agent that brings the qualified and able buyer to help me close the deal. I am going to pay for advertising, work countless open houses and facilitate any number of interactions, showings and eventually an offer or offers. It's only fair. Consistent with that belief is that a good buyers agent deserves 3%.
What then of an agent that asks for more? Let's pretend that a buyers agent, within the offer to purchase rejected the MLS offer of compensation and suggested the buyer requests a 3.5% buyers broker fee be paid along with a $295 transaction fee.
When I asked the agent the rationale and whether his client would prefer to strike the language or pay .5% more for the house, he was clearly not amused. He explained to me that he had a buyers agency agreement with the client that entitled him to that amount. I simply said that agreement is between him and his client, the MLS offer of compensation is the deal we have.
The buyers agency agreement does 2 things. It creates an important relationship between the agent and buyer, allowing the agent to work on the behalf of the buyer not the seller. It also deals with commissions. It says what it will be and who is responsible for paying it, ultimately the buyer. It also grant permission for the funds to come via the seller as the MLS offer of compensation would allow.
Alright back to the 3.5% guy. He tells me he is worth it. Why then is his buyer unwilling to pay the extra .5%? Why does he need to place that onus on us? Why has he made his above average compensation an additional hurdle between his client and owning this home? Why is he putting his own greed and ego ahead of his clients interests?
You might see that this fellow got under my skin. "What nerve?" I thought. Yes, what nerve. I ought to get up that kind of nerve and make more money not by being better or helping more people but by adding on fees and upping my percentage. If he was worth what he was asking for, his client would gladly pay this premium outside of the deal. So now I think he is just trying to squeeze me and my client for an extra .5% and $295 because he can. Once he does that, I think he is putting his own interests before his clients. Realtors, agents, good people, are not supposed to do that.
A commission will never get between me and the best interests of my client.
I write this a bit prematurely but if I do so, I can then later say I was right or humbly accept defeat. This home is a doll house. Obviously lovingly cared for. What other factors must come into play for the market to bring us a buyer. One month ago I held an open house there, not a single visitor. Yesterday I held an open house there and I was pleasantly surprised to have 5 couples through. 2 of them were honest to goodness qualified buyers with a specific interest in the area and single family homes. The difference could be the election, perceptions, price, competition, I think it is a lot of those things.
