Tom, the difference between a good agent and a great agent is their knowledge and experience and using these skills to structure and negotiate contracts. Of course price is important, but so are terms and conditions. It's also how you package the offer.

If all your worried about it getting a refund and not the quality of one's work and knowledge, find an inexperienced agent that doesn't do much business. They will probably work something out with you.

You have a great question, and I'm sure you will get lots of folks writing in saying that agents make too much money, or that there are plendy of agents who will give you part of their commission. But another great question to ask is have you had a bad real estate transaction or agent?

Good luck, by the way, be prepared to sit on your offer for awhile. I just got word after 6 months that the bank wants more money and wont take my buyers offer. ( It was a very good offer, full price) Short sales can be great buys, but very time consuming. I did just get another short sale approved in less than 6-7 weeks. You need to have a good 3rd party negotiator to help the lender and listing agent.

Tom, it might be wise to see if you can find a back owned property ( REO) they are usually good buys and the lender gets back to you within 3-5 business days.


Cheers,

David "Tap" Tapper
Realtor
Cashin Company http://www.DavidTapper.com http://www.TeamTapper.com
650-403-6252

Hi Tom,
Well the good news for you is that a buyer agent will work for you and it's the seller (in this case the bank) who will pay for their services. You needn't worry about fair compensation at all!

There is such a high probablility the offer will not go throgh the agent should be asking you to pay him up front let alone offer money back. The last couple buyer I worked with, I ended up writing eleven offers for one and 7 for the other before we got a place. All for one fee. There is so much more to know when writing short sale offers. Its like an business where you hire a specialist only in real estate it doesn't cost you more. another way to look at it is what is the total cost to you. If you are willing to pay $840k and try and get an agent to give you $2000 back, write the offer for $838k and let the agent keep their well deserved income. refer back to my first point... there is a strong chance agent is wasting their time especially if they haven't been working short sales or if the listing agent doesn't know what to do.

Hope you get it,

Glen
Broker

What real estate agent would put his/her license on the line.....for this.......you can hire an attorney to
draft an offer.....that is only about 1/10 of what the process is in selling a property. Good Luck.
Donna Black

It is illegal in the state of CA for the agent to pay the seller...however there are folks who do it. I assure you, your agent will be worth EVERY penny of the commission...especially with a short sale. It will take months for approval, plus all of the diclousres that will need to be filled out...not to mention negotiating with the bank if there are critical repairs.

The lender pays your agent and most likley will be working at a very low commission since it is a short sale. Any Realtor that accepts your offer is either inexperiencced or desperate. But you CAN find them. Start with Zip Realty. They'll be all over it.

BUT...what happend when/if the lender accepts another offer just before closing? They CAN do that by the way...it's disclosed in the short sale addendum that's part of the contract. That's another critical time when an agent with experience and a good reputation is critical.

Good luck.

Getting a refund from the agent is something that you would have to work out with the agent that you choose. Keep in mind, all money needs to show up on the RESPA and in many states it is illegal to give money back to the buyer. Also, it absolutely will be a significant time commitment for the agent. Short sales are extremely time consuming and can take anywhere from 3 to 6 months to complete, not to mention the myriad of issues that could come up from the time of the offer to the closing. Your agent will be working for every penny of that commission on a short sale.