Donna Moy-Bruno

I'm sure you'll get many different responses to this question! When representing my buyers, I ask the seller before I show a FSBO home (For sale by owner home), if they are offering a fee to a buyer agent who brings the buyer. Usually, the homeowners want to sell the house without the benefit of a Realtor because they hope to net more money by acting as their own agent and "pay themselves" to list and maenage the sale of their own property, but even in these instances, most sellers can still see the advantage of allowing the showing and accepting an offer from a buyer who has full buyer representation. Typically they agree to co-broke and pay all or part of the buyer agent's fee. The buyer agent generally takes great care in making sure the buyers are preapproved and quallify for a mortgage, understand the inspection process & legal disclosures and requirements, and the buyers have a professional guiding them through the entire transaction form start to finish...in the end both sides benefit from having the buyer agent involved in the process. When a seller refuses to pay a buyer agent fee, the buyer under contract has the option to purchase the home with the benefit of his or her realtor's assistance and pay their realtor out of pocket as per their contract with their buyer agent, or they can simply look for and purchase another home that offers a co-broke to their agent. Since the seler has no contract with the buyer agent, the " fee " is written into the offer to purchase contract and there are a number of different ways this can be done. It is strongly recommended that buyers and sellers have legal representation in any real estate transaction to assist with contracts and explain rights and obligations of both parties, reducing risk and liability on both sides, but it is crucial for the seller to have legal representation when not enlisting the services of a licensed Realtor. - Wed Sep 23 2009, 05:51