In article ,
(v) wrote:

On Mon, 1 Mar 2004 13:52:21 -0500, someone wrote:


We originally came upon the property ourselves and we asked
our realtor at the to help negotiate....

That was your first mistake.

Man oh man, bringing what is basically a commission SALESperson in to
negotiate for you? What is her incentive to get the price down? Get
it down enough so that net after commission she can convince you she
paid for herself?

If you already found a property you like, DO NOT pay someone who is
set up to be a commission "finder" putting buyers and sellers
together, that's what they get commissions for, to handle contract
matters. You would have done better having an attorney handle it at
that point. Oh well.

Here's how this stuff usually ends up.

You buy the property for $500k and you pay your agent $12,500
commission. You buy the property for $512,500 and the seller pays
your agent the $12,500 commission. So, do you want to finance the
commission over the next 20 years or not?

If you want the seller to pay the commission, you have to get the
seller to sign a purchase contract saying they will pay it from the
sale proceeds. You can't just show up at the closing with an extra
demand for an additional expense to the seller any more than they can
hit you with "and you also have to pay $x to this broker in addition
to what you agreed to buy the house for". Now, most broker forms for
Purchase & Sale *do* say that "Seller shall pay a commission of $X to
-broker's name here-". For obvious reasons!

If *your* contract with the broker obligates *you* to pay this person
a commission, then if you want the seller to pay it, you need to get
the seller to agree to take this over. *You* ARE using a broker
whether the seller thinks he is or not. And if you do get the seller
to agree, do you know what the mortgage or settlement company will do
as directed by the closing attorney?

They will likely cut a check out of YOUR mortgage amount to give to
the broker, and another check for the rest to give to the Seller,
unless you say you will do it out of your "downpayment". Since the
Seller is *getting* money and you and your bank are *giving* it, the
seller does not normally need to bring funds to the closing. The
broker is only going to get paid out of your money anyway.

Whether your broker is entitled to a commission depends on your
contract with that broker, not what contract the seller has or does
not have with his broker.

-v.

IMO this is a good explanation of a Realtor's basic function --
SALESperson. Which brings me to wonder about a possible solution for
people thinking they need someone to represent them. Unless there's some
local law that requires you to hire a Realtor to represent you the buyer
(and I can't imagine there are any, tho it wouldn't exactly surprise me
if there were), what most people need is just * a someone* who's a good
negotiator for the price haggling, kinda like one of the reasons why
athletes have agents. Some love the whole process of haggling, but I
think most people find that to be the worst part about buying a home.

Find someone you know who makes a living negotiating stuff, contract to
pay them X dollars for X amount of services, and let them do the dirty
work of personally niggling with the seller like the house was a fez in
a Moroccan street market over what YOU deem acceptable or not
acceptable. Having an intermediary with no commission/gain in the house
would also carry the advantage of distancing you a bit from what's
normally a stressful situation -- and thus allow you in theory to make
better decisions that suit YOU, not the seller, including walking away
from the deal ... which is sometimes the best thing you could do.

Just one guy's opinion.

AJS