Any agent willing to give their commission is a fool. I don't expect to get a portion of my clients pay check at the end of the week. If you don't have the courage to tell you buyers no, then you shouldn't be in the business. Giving up your commission to to feel your buyers pocket, is a sign of weakness and a sign of desperation.
Acquire more buyers, so you don't have to take on those type of buyers. Leave those buyer to the desperate, lazy, bottom feeders.

Hi!

I want knee surgery....will the doctor refund part of his fee??

I want to take my business partner to court...will the lawyer refund part of his fee??

I want a tooth extracted....will the dentist refund part of his fee??

Just wondering!

All,

Whenever any of us buy anything be it a product or a service, we get exactly what we pay for. If we shop at the "92 cent" store, we might get products that are incorrectly labeled or in broken packages. If we shop at Nordstrom we get excellent quality products and superior service. If we bought a Yugo it might have lasted a year, but a Mercedes or Cadillac, etc. would provide years of reliable performance.

I always remember what my mom used to tell me when I was young,,,,,,, "the poor buy twice" (not that we had very much money, but we always bought "quality" products and services so we would have no problems) . I certainly would not want to "buy cheap" on something like a surgery, dental procedure, a lawsuit, or a home purchase / sale.

Rebated commissions are available at; http://www.redfin.com, http://www.ziprealty.com and many more discount brokerages. They all have plenty of Brokers and Agents standing by to provide a level of service.

Meanwhile, I have to get back to providing my clients with superior service. I have several offers to write and clients with properties to list - all at very competitive and negotiable commission rates.

Cheers,

Thom Colby
Broker & REALTOR
Orange County, CA

Rick,

The reason the agent you had went into retirement was because he was working too many hours for too little pay.

I was looking for help locating a buyer’s agent in the area. When I purchased my last property I used a buyer’s agent that refunded "ALL" but $1000 of his commission. The experience was no different than when I purchased properties in the past with a traditional agent. Sadly the agent listed above has retired.

JR: Retired? Probably to another job.

Just a note for future readers of this thread. Know that all of the negative responses are from agents who feel that it is their right to demand the full 3% or 6% and that anyone refunding their commission is hurting their industry

JR: Note to myself: wanting to be paid is hurting my industry. Do you want to be paid? Does it hurt your industry to be paid?

I'm going to answer (c)....do I win a prize for paying attention :)!

K

Friday evening pop quiz.

When a Palm tree falls on a desert island, does it make any sound?

Sorry. To Answer your question....in ALL honesty....It's VERY unlikely that you'll find ANY realtor willing to assume ALL legal liability and pay the taxes on a full commission of (let's say...)$8000 when all he/she is getting is $1000..as you described happening earlier. If this has worked for you before...I suggest you should get that guy out of retirement to help you out. Even if a realtor would agree to this, he/she's Broker would probably NOT.

Best of Luck.

I used to hate this when I was a kid, especially on Monday mornings...

Pop Quiz

The original post question was?
a: When is the best time to buy a house?
b: What type of agent can help me best?
c: Looking for a buyers agent in North Orange County, Ca area who will refund % at closeing
d: None or all of the above.

My 2 cents. Take it or leave it.

Simple question: If you don't believe in the worth of a good buyers agent and his/her abilities to negotiate and oversee the transactional details of a purchase.... then why would you want to use one at all?
Why wouldn't you just go to: http://www.dre.ca.gov and sign up to take the required classes, pass the state exam, pay your CAR and NAR dues, join a local association and brokerage, pay E&O insurance, sign up to access the MLS, and do it all yourself while keeping all of the commission on your personal purchases??? (by the way that costs Realtors nearly $2000 just to get started)
Being a Real Estate Consultant is pretty much the ONLY profession out there where you are required to do a lot of work, with NO upfront compensation with hopes of seeing anything later on down the road.
A good buyers agent is invaluable to 99% of the buyers out there looking right now. If you are in that 1% who doesn't believe their worth...then I suggest that you should probably get your RE license and put your hat in the ring.
Purchasing a home is often times the single biggest investment that anyone will ever make. It is a service oriented business and if you weren't getting the services that you required, then keep looking for another Realtor who will overachieve for you!
One more thing...
If you needed a serious operation....would you REALLY let the guy standing on the corner, begging for business, operate on you for half of the cost that others charge???

I think a savvy buyer can save an agent oodles of time, and should be rewarded proportionately. If I drive home your point, then when do I start! Let's get that clock ticking!

Thom, & karen, thanks.

Dave, you drive home my point, thanks!

Rick -

There are plenty of Brokerages that will provide limited services and refund some of their commission. One is http://www.redfin.com

Best of luck,

I have an idea, why don't you pay an agent $100 bucks an hour. After a commission split, taxes, and general expences, you'll be paying somone about $30-40 bucks an hour at best. If you do all the work, your agent won't have claim to much of the commission. If your agent does the "normal" amount of work, you will probably have to pay him/her what they are worth. I don't even know if something like this can be legally structured, but I think you get my point.

I was looking for help locating a buyer’s agent in the area. When I purchased my last property I used a buyer’s agent that refunded "ALL" but $1000 of his commission. The experience was no different than when I purchased properties in the past with a traditional agent. Sadly the agent listed above has retired. Just a note for future readers of this thread. Know that all of the negative responses are from agents who feel that it is their right to demand the full 3% or 6% and that anyone refunding their commission is hurting their industry. I say business is business. Would you buy a car with 0 down and 0% interest form one dealer with incentives? It’s “YOUR” choice as the buyer!!!

Rick -

A couple of thoughts...

1) If an agent is willing to give away their money, they probably will give away your money too - do you want someone like that working for you where they allow you to pay more so they can give you back $$$ ?

2) If you purchase a Short Sale property, the lenders will not allow payment of commissions to anyone. They expect if an agent is willing to give up commission, then it shoul dgo to offset the huge losses the lenders are taking in the short sale.

3) As someone previously said, rebate of some commissions needs to be disclosed to all parties and shown on the HUD-1.

Best of luck,

Thom Colby
Broker & REALTOR
Orange County, CA

That's an interesting idea. I would guess that whoever does it will make you sign a Buyers Contract. How much do you think you will get back?

Rick,

Were you wanting to have money for closing costs? or as a refund? Francesca's answers made me think perhaps you are trying to compensate for closing costs? In that case, we can always have the seller pay for closing costs via our offer. Not sure if that's the idea...but all agents can help you with that!

Karen

ADDITION:

Here in NJ, cash back at closing is occasionally offered by the seller.

Palm,

Why any agent would do this is beyond me. A good agent, together with educated homebuyers will have spent oodles of time looking at various properties. Beyond that, a good agent will also work diligently with home inspectors, attornies, the bank and you to ensure a smooth closing . . . again aplethora of payable time spent. In the end, when you consider time spent and the overhead (including taxes owed to the IRS), we are NOT netting as much as it appears.

Here in NJ, cash back at closing is offered is occasionally offered.

Francesca

When any agent does this, it is disclosed to all parties. The seller will know that the agent is refunding to you.

Hi,

I would suggest you call local brokers and ask for new agents, if they don't have much going on, they might be willing to work for less. Also, some of the discount brokers will do this too....they don't give as much service, but they will do it for less.

Happy Home Hunting!