Thank you Mary & John for your answers.
If I understand correctly
As a buyer, even if listing comes from my agent, I don't have any advantage over other buyers from other agents.
Thanks

Priya,

Sharon and Karen pretty much said what John Sacktig and I did...

Having a "buyers agent" , or in other words ONE agent showing you, and hopefully selling you, a house only means (to quote Sharon and Avram):

"The benefits of working with one agent (Realtor) are many and incude.....* trusting the agent represent your interest (as long as it's not Disclosed Dual Agency)

Notice we have ALL mentioned Dual Agency (which may I say rarely occurs anyway). Unless the agent you use doesn't take ANY listings and/or doesn't sell any of their agency's listings, there is always the potential for dual agency to come into play.

For a listing (sellers) agent to "change/control the deal to make seller & seller agent to be in win-win situation" when they have the buyer too, is totally unethical. Both John and I stated that when presenting an offer to OUR seller from OUR buyer, our responsibilities lie in the best interest of both parties NOT ourselves and our personal gain.

I, and Sharon and Karen, also stated that the best offer, no matter who's buyer it is, is not always the highest offer.

My job and responsibility to my sellers (other than selling their house and the work involved in that process) is to present all the information necessary for them to make a proper and informed decision, regardless of where the buyer comes from.
My job and obligation to my buyers is essentiall the same. Present information so they can make an offer based on fact, then presenting it to the owners (or their agent) and advocating on their behalf. a little trickier when its Dual Agency, but totally doable nonetheless.

You also stated : "What is the reason seller agent either try to get full comssion/50% comission, don't they prefer 75% comission working with both seller & buyer? If seller decided to accept offer 400k with 6% comission"

Here's how it works. Listing is at total commission of 6%. If my listing is sold by another agency, I get 1.5% of the commission. If I sell it, I get 3% commission... There is no 75% anywhere, it's either 25% or 50%. However, my motto is always 'I'd rather have 25% of something than 100% of nothing. Meaning, it's my JOB to get the house sold. If that means the best offer is from another agent/agency and my sellers agree, so be it.

Hi Priya,
I think that you're on the right path. It's not that you need panic should you find that you are buying a house represented by the same brokerage that your agent works for - it's more that maybe you don't go out of your way to make that happen by calling the listing agent and going through them. Wishing you the best of luck,
Jackie

Thanks Sharon Avram and Karen Abramson for your straight answer, I would also prefer to have my own buyer agent.

Thanks

The commission is set in the listing agreement between the seller and the listing agent. Unless that listing contract states that a disclosed dual agent will receive just a portion of the commission being offered to a buyers agent, you'll pay the full commission. If the listing agent is representing both you and the seller that's disclosed dual agency.

Laura Giannotta
Keller Williams Atlantic

R.,

Buyers have the option of calling the listing agent on every listing they find OR find a realtor they feel confortable with and let them do the search for or with them. In NJ realtors are allowed to show any listing that is on the Multiple Listing Services ("MLS") or any other homes for sale, including For Sale By Owner properties after talking to the sellers and getting their premission.

The benefits of working with one agent (Realtor) are many and incude:
* developing a relationship and trust with the agent,
* not having the need to explain time and time again what you are looking for.
* trusting the agent represent your interest (as long as it's not Disclosed Dual Agency)
* eliminate the constant need to check what is on the market and have someone else do most of the leg work for you, showing you only properties that will be to your preference.

No extra charge for looking at other listing with your agent. Usually, the seller pays the commision in a home sales transaction.That figure is decided during the listing agreement with the listing agent.

As to Priya's question what will the realtor do? I am not sure what will be the end result. Dual Agency is tricky and sometimes can result in the agent pushing his offers strogner than the other ones. With that said, this is not ethically correct practice.

The selling agent should present all offers in the same manner and the buyer should make the decision which offer is better for him. We must remember that a better offer does not necessirely mean higher price offer. Other factors such as: closing date, mortgage amounts or even cash deals could be a valid reason for a buyer to choose one offer over another.

It's hard to determine the result of the scenerio you presented but you are correct by pointing it out and YES, it could happen.

This is the reason why you should have a realtor that advocate for you and should push to present the offer in person to the seller and plea your offer to them directly on your behalf.

Good luck to all.

Sincerely,
Karen Abramson, ABR, ASP, QSC
Sale Associate
Prudential New Jersey Properties
SharonandKaren@PrudentialNewJersey.com
Cell 917.294.0356
Office 973.992.6363 ex.152

Web Reference: http://SharonandKarenRealEstateNJ.com

Priya stated: "What is the reason seller agent either try to get full comssion/50% comission, don't they prefer 75% comission working with both seller & buyer? If seller decided to accept offer 400k with 6% comission"

Hi Priya, There is no "try to get full commission". A contract is has been signed. The seller hires an agent to sell their home, nothing changes if the agent sells the home on their own. What would be different except the selling agent now has double the work?


You also said: As a buyer we know advantage of having buyer agent.

O.k, I would like to know what you feel the advantages are.

Hi,
Thanks for your answers, Glad to hear that option -1 buyer is not in loose situation.
As a buyer we know advantage of having buyer agent, but trying to think logically if sellers agent can change/control the deal to make seller & seller agent to be in win-win situation with thier own interest assuming all other factors are similar for both buyers.

What is the reason seller agent either try to get full comssion/50% comission, don't they prefer 75% comission working with both seller & buyer? If seller decided to accept offer 400k with 6% comission.

Thanks

Priya,

John beat me to the punch in answering your question.

1)The listing agreement is the listing agreement., period If it was 5% or 6% TOTAL commission, it remains that way regardless of who sells the house (unless other specific arrangements were made with the seller WHEN IT WAS LISTED!! ).

Since the sellers pay commission to whomever lists and/or sells the house, why is it that buyers always think we as agents "cut" commission if we procure a buyer ourselves? If anything it's actually MORE work when we have both buyer and sellers best interests as our duty.
It's a matter of all things being considered and reviewed by the seller and their listing agent (as John pointed out...down payment, closing date, reputable pre-approval, and yes, sales price) as to which contract the seller accepts, and believe it or not, it's not always the highest offer !!!!

2) A Real Estate agent must present EVERY offer to his seller, regardless of who procured the buyer. As John said, we may let another agent in our office handle part of the negotiations if it's OUR buyer and/or if there is more than one offer. We go over ALL the pro and cons of a particular offer and, as John said, let the best offer win!!

Then we handle all the things that follow in getting a house from contract to close.

Hi Priya, Good question.

First of all, all offers are to be presented to the seller regardless of whom offer it is.

How would I handle it? Well, the offer that the buyers agent brought in, I would present to the seller.
The second offer from my buyer, I would pass the buyer to one of my partners in my office to present the offer to the clients for negotiation purposes and negotiate as any other offer.

I do not give a reduced seller agent commission to my listings. The agreed upon commission is the commission. period. My own buyer or not.

I would sit down with the seller and discuss both offers on the merit of each, down payment, pre approval with a reputable bank or mortgage broker ( less desireable), closing date , flexibilty in closing if necessary and then price.

Let the best contract win.

If it then is my buyers contrat that is accepted, I would then take that client back after the negotiations.
During inspections, each client will have their own attorney and inspections issues will be discussed between each client and their attorney. ( as it always is anyway)

What happens in below scenario
1) As a buyer you go with your buyers agent with offer of 400K
2) Another buyer directly comes to seller agent with 394K offer.
Does seller/seller agnet prefers to pick second option with reducing seller agnet commision with 6k-8k (assumpltion 6% is commision), so that buyer in second option, seller & seller agnet will get advantage?

How does it handled?
Thanks

John,

Great answer explaining dual agency.

Just to be clear, when I said " I will not go into dual agency again"...I meant it was explained enough times in previous posts so I didn't have to exp[lain it yet again....not that I personally won't enter into a dual agency relationship.

My answer was to clarify for the questioner that as buyer he/she does not need to call every listing agent to see houses.

People need to NOT think that the agent they call will be a dual agent for the duration of their looking for a home. So called "buyers agents" like them to think that. (Again, the hook to try and make a home buyer feel secure) If you call me on a listing of mine.. yes in that case I would act as a dual agent.. If you do not like that house.. any other house I show you I am a buyers agent.. same as Jacqueline, Sham and anyone else.

Dual agency 99.9999% of the time makes for a smooth transaction between people buying homes.
This is not warfare. These are people selling their homes and buying homes.

As a disclosed dual agent of both the seller and the buyer, sellers agent will be working equally for both parties to the real estate transaction and will provide all services to complete the transaction without the full range of fiduciary duties ordinarily owed by an agent who represents seller alone, or the buyer alone. In preparation of offers and counteroffers between seller and buyer, seller’s agent will act as an intermediary to facilitate the transaction rather than as an active negotiator representing either the seller or buyer in a fiduciary capacity. By consenting to this dual agency, seller is giving up the right to undivided loyalty and will be owed limited duties of disclosure, obedience and confidentiality by the seller’s agent..

R,
YES YES YES...any agent can show you any house listed in the MLS, listed by any agency. Chances are if you have been looking at "houses" you have already seen homes listed by several different agencies already. Typically the seller pays commission so no matter who "sells" the house it's not a cost you incur.

Too many buyers think they get an "advantage" by caliing the listing agent/agency, which isn't really the case at all.
First, the listing agent then represents both the seller AND they buyer equally, instead of just representing your interests only. (I will NOT go into dual agency again...)

Second, by working with one agent, it allows your agent to get to know your needs ,and you personally,to better help you find a house, and avoids the hassle of making multiple appointments with multiple agents.

Hope that helps

Hi R.

The Realtor can show you any house in NJ, and you dont need pay nothing more for this.

R: there are listing agents, there are buyers agents and there is dual agency. Dual agency is when the brokerage (not necessarily the agent) has both the buyer and the seller. Think about it. If the same agent represents both parties - loyalty has to be given to both parties. The exact same fiduciary responsibility is due when the same brokerage represents both parties - I am not an exclusive buyers agent - so I have no need to inflate this information. If you work with a different brokerage and your agent is given information by the other party that would help you and not help the other person - they can tell you that information. If you are with the same brokerage - they legally cannot give you that information because they would be in breach of their fiduciary responsibility to the other party. Even if the other party is represented by another agent within the same brokerage - they owe loyalty to both parties - so you do not necessarily get everything that you MIGHT be able to get with single agency. Do all agents realise that they owe equal loyalty to both the buyer and seller when their broker has both ends of the deal? Obviously not. However, whether you want to work with someone who isn't aware of all the repercussions is another matter.
I agree with John that you should find someone that you are comfortable with - but just know that agency IS an issue - and my suggestion is to certainly not go directly through to a listing agent. Best of luck!

Sinply answered, yes they can, and no you won't. A REALTOR you're working with can show you listings of another REALTOR or Realty Company. And no you will not incur additional fees. Agency law in NJ is somewhat misunderstood, follow this link...

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1196551/buying-a-home-at-the…

Good Luck!

Laura Giannotta
Keller Williams Realty - Atlantic Shore

Hi R -

You can have any agent show you any properties in NJ.

In NJ all agents are buyers agents, listing agents with the possibity of acting as a dual agent until the point in time where there is a designation. There is no reason not to go to a listing agent to see a property. Dual agency is not an issue in NJ as we are all trained to handle these transactions. Some agents like to use that as a hook, that you need to have an exclusive buyers agent to represent you in a transaction. Hogwash.

By now, from some of the responses below ( which make no sense) your head is probably spinning.

Take this with you: Any agent that you deal with should have your best interest in mind. Period.
If you do not feel that, then move to another agent. The key is to find a good agent that you are comfortable with and work with that person to show you homes.

Dear R,
You should have a buyer's agent. It is in this way that you are truly represented. If you go through the listing agent, a situation called dual agency occurs where the brokerage has a fiduciary responsibility to both the seller and the buyer. This means that neither are getting the best service possible. Find a good agent to represent you. I disagree that the agent is representing the seller unless you sign an agreement - but I do think that you want to make sure that you are represented by an efficient, professional with your best interests in mind. You will not pay more unless you agree with your agent that you will pay the commission. This occasionally happens when a home is shown that is (for example) 'for sale by owner'. 99.9% of the time, the commission is paid by the Seller.
Best of luck,
Jackie

Yes, actually you should be working with just one Realtor...one that you trust to guide you through the home buying process...she/he can show you all the homes that are on the market now...plus alert you when new ones come on the market that meet your criteria...also you should sign a buyers agreement with your agent...NJ. state law requires all agents to represent the seller unless such an agreement is signed (what it states is that both the buyer agent and seller agent owe their loyalty to the seller…as strange as that might sound...by signing a buyers agreement you have now LEGALLY change his or her allegiance to you...
As for fees it's the same…the fee was established when home was put up for sale by the owner…and is paid by the seller.
Good luck house hunting..."Sham" Coldwell Banker Clifton 973-594-4334

Here's how it works:

When someone wants to sell a house, he/she lists it with an agent. Usually, that agreement--the listing agreement--says that the seller will pay the entire commission. However, it also says that if another agent finds a buyer (that'd be you), that the commission will be split between the listing agent and the agent representing the buyer. So--just making this up since commissions are totally negotiable--if the seller agreed to a 6% commission, the listing agreement likely would say that if another agent finds the buyer, each agent gets 3%.

And in most areas, that's how most of the deals work. One agent is representing the seller and another is representing the buyer. In fact, it's not all that common for the same agent to be representing both.

So, if you have a Realtor who's been showing you houses, you certainly can ask to see houses listed by another Realtor, either at the same or different agency. In fact, if your Realtor is best representing you, he/she ought to be selecting houses to show you based on what you've said you wanted, regardless of whether your agent was the listing agent or not.

You won't end up paying any more for the home. As I mentioned, the commission is already agreed to by the seller. And if you buy it, all that means is that the same commission gets split in half, with half going to the listing agent and the other half going to your agent. On top of that, if you have a good agent, it may actually cost you less since your agent may be more aggressive in negotiating price or terms.

Hope that helps.

Yes, you can see any property!

R - this is a great question and I'm so glad you asked it - often an area of confusion for new buyers. Your agent can show you anything listed in the MLS to which she/he is a member - and many agents have access to several. By all means your agent can show you any listed property regardless of listing firm or agent. And your search will go so much better by working with one agent because the process of bringing your home into focus is just that, a process! The agent will be able to do a much better job for you if they accompany on the entire journey. Otherwise, the process becomes disjointed and you lose focus and momentum - and there is nothing to gain.

Good luck to you - again thanks for posting this question!

Best,
Jeannie Feenick
"Unwavering Commitment to Service"
Search the MLS at http://www.feenick.com

Hello R.,
Gina is right - agents can show you any house that's in the MLS; regardless of which agency has it listed. To answer your second question, the seller pays the fees.
Good Luck!
Jennifer

Hello:

Sure, a realtor is able to show you any home in the MLS. In the transaction, the listing agent on the property represents the sellers and your agent represents you.

Good Luck to you!
Gina Fagnani