38carrots Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Panic! Several weeks ago we saw a rural property that we wanted to look at, called the selling agent and went to see it. It wasn't what we were looking for. A week later the agent emailed us a couple of properties (she did ask for our permission on that first day, and we gave it to her.) We saw one--nope. Saw the other--we would really really like to buy it. For this we would need to sell both our house and town house that we've been renting out. A friend said that she knows a good agent in our city and we called him today. He says he wants to be both the selling and the buying agent. Is this typical? Is he just being aggressive? Is this to our advantage? The property is 1h from the city, so I can't see how the rural agent can be showing the two city properties and doing a good job. But I feel bad, because she is sort of our agent now? Or not? Now...the agent is coming tomorrow at noon! We are rather in a mess, and it feels like we are moving too fast, but on the other hand, maybe now we need to do the leap into the country living lol Any tips and help? When we bought this house and the town house, we didn't have our buying agent--we just looked up the properties that we liked and saw them with the selling agent. I'm off to do some rapid decluttering and clean up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 If you haven't signed a buyers agent agreement with her, she's not your agent. The major plus to using one agent for both is that they usually discount their commission on the house you are selling. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Did she show you the house or just email you the address? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 No contract, no agent agreement. I would find someone who sells a lot of houses in the area you are selling. When we sold our home, our agent sold over 100 homes a year in our area. Part of his agent package included a consultation with a home stager. I know Dave Ramsey's site includes preferred real estate agents. Ours was one of those. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaillardia Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 By calling the seller's agent of a specific property, it puts you in the position to trust in them as your buyer's agent. Don't do that. We were lied to when we used the seller's agent to buy our first home. Get your own agent, a buyer's agent. They will be looking for what interests you, and hopefully it is nothing that they have for sale within their company. Conflict of interest, although in contracts that sort of thing is mentioned and another internal agent will handle the other transaction. At any rate, just get an agent. Tell them you need help finding a house, tell them what you want. Tell them you also have two homes to sell. Your agent will not be showing your house necessarily but will be showing properties to you that interest you. An agent and interested buyer look at a home without the seller's agent, from everything that I have known. We've bought 4 homes and sold them all and that is generally the way it is done. Or are you looking for other information? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnwife Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 She is NOT your agent, she is the sellers agent, paid by the seller, responsible for the sellers interests, after her own of course. If you want a buyers agent, that is a different decision, and has to be a different agent IMHO. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38carrots Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 Did she show you the house or just email you the address? She showed us two houses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38carrots Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 She is NOT your agent, she is the sellers agent, paid by the seller, responsible for the sellers interests, after her own of course. If you want a buyers agent, that is a different decision, and has to be a different agent IMHO. The houses that she showed us, I'm pretty sure she was not the sellers agent? Or she must be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 You can look at the record of the rural agent and see whether you think she is knowledgeable about the city or not. Personally for such a big transaction I would not want to work with the seller's agent. To much of a conflict of interest. I would want someone who would help me get the best possible deal, and really be on top of inspections and such. But I might find my own other agent to represent me in the purchase, rather than the rural agent, and maybe (not obligated, but I think it's nice) pay the rural agent a nominal amount, maybe $250 or so, as a courtesy. This is not EXPECTED or OWED, but if you have a relationship that has given you great value, I think that is worth acknowledging. When we started looking for our cabin, I got a referral for an agent up that way. She was good and she worked hard for us, but as time went on I realized that there were 2-3 agents who pretty much had all the listings in the target area, and that they seemed to favor locally powerful people or people who they could represent in both sides of the deal. By then, I felt that I could handle the inspections my own self, and that I had thoroughly learned the real estate market in the area. But we stayed loyal to our agent because she had done so much for us already. This paid off, in a funny way. We had gotten into contract on one place, and it had had some water damage due to pipes freezing between the time that we saw it and the time we put the offer on it. When they disclosed that, we walked away--we did not want to be under time pressure for a place 4 hours away when the owner had major repairs to do IN ADDITION TO whatever the inspections caught. Then our agent decided to leave the profession. Through a strange sequence of events, we ended up seeing the place again, with the seller's agent. The price had dropped a lot. We ended up getting it, all nicely repaired, and for much less than we had agreed to pay 6 months earlier. Having the seller's agent working for us, too, really paid off, as we had hoped. But we never did screw over our agent, tempting though it was financially, and I feel good about that. YMMV. We didn't have that obligation, but I feel better, that we did the right thing instead of the thing we could have gotten away with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38carrots Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 She is NOT your agent, she is the sellers agent, paid by the seller, responsible for the sellers interests, after her own of course. If you want a buyers agent, that is a different decision, and has to be a different agent IMHO. But the agent we talked to said he will be both the buers' and the seller's agent. How is it even possible, if she is supposedely the seller's agent? But they are the same agency, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storygirl Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 I'm a little confused about what you are describing here. It seems to me that you looked at a house that you are not buying, but you met the agent selling that house. That person subsequently showed you another house that you love. Did she take you to see the property? The main question that is unclear is ..... does she represent the seller of the property that you want to buy? Or did she show you a property that she found that she thought you would like, but she is NOT contracted as the agent for that property? The second agent, I think, is saying that he wants to sell your property and represent you as you buy a new property. We have worked with the same agent for buying and selling, simultaneously. But if the first agent already showed you a house that you want to buy, and then you use a different agent to write the contract.......That is okay if she is the seller's agent of the house you want to buy. If she is not, it seems unfair for you to give someone else the credit for the contract when she found you the house. Can you clarify? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 But the agent we talked to said he will be both the buers' and the seller's agent. How is it even possible, if she is supposedely the seller's agent? But they are the same agency, I think. He would be the seller's agent for the properties YOU are selling. And the buyers agent for the property you buy. You do not want the selling agent of the property you are buying to do the offer, etc on the house you want. They will tell you that they can but you do not want that. She is only the seller's agent on a property that she has a listing contract with those seller's for, she can tell you about any property but she isn't the selling agent unless she has the listing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extendedforecast Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 She is NOT your agent, she is the sellers agent, paid by the seller, responsible for the sellers interests, after her own of course. If you want a buyers agent, that is a different decision, and has to be a different agent IMHO. The agent who showed the house is the seller's agent of the original house that the op rejected. Now the agent is showing another property that she may not may not be listing. If she is listing the property and showed it to the OP, they should get their own agent to represent them. If the agent does not represent the owners of the home, it's a bit murkier. On one hand, she did find and show the property, on the other hand, she did not present a buyer's representation agreement. I would feel obliged to use her as my agent as long as I felt comfortable with her. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnwife Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Unless real estate is massively different by state, there's nothing murky here. A real estate agent showed her a house, then some more houses. If the original poster has a contract with that agent to represent her as a buyers agent, and she is paying a buyers agent commision, then she is a buyers agent. If the poster has not signed a buyers agent contract with the real estate agent, then the agent is getting paid by splitting the sellers agent commission with the listing agent, and is representing the interests of her employers the sellers. I'm not sure exactly how it would be handled if the OP contacts another agent to make an offer on the house that was shown by the first agent. Split the commission three ways? first agent is stiffed? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extendedforecast Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Unless real estate is massively different by state, there's nothing murky here. A real estate agent showed her a house, then some more houses. If the original poster has a contract with that agent to represent her as a buyers agent, and she is paying a buyers agent commision, then she is a buyers agent. If the poster has not signed a buyers agent contract with the real estate agent, then the agent is getting paid by splitting the sellers agent commission with the listing agent, and is representing the interests of her employers the sellers. I'm not sure exactly how it would be handled if the OP contacts another agent to make an offer on the house that was shown by the first agent. Split the commission three ways? first agent is stiffed? So I'm not aware of any agreement between the listing agent and any random agent who connects a buyer with the listing agent's listing without a buyer rep agreement. The LA could give a referral fee I suppose. In the third scenario the agent would most likely be stiffed unfortunately. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 So I'm not aware of any agreement between the listing agent and any random agent who connects a buyer with the listing agent's listing without a buyer rep agreement. The LA could give a referral fee I suppose. In the third scenario the agent would most likely be stiffed unfortunately. Many buyer's agents don't make you sign a buyer's agent agreement until you're ready to make an offer on a house. In fact, I won't sign with one that wants me to sign sooner than that, as I don't know that early on if that agent is really going to work for me or not. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindao12 Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Disclaimer: I used to be an escrow officer in the state of California so not sure how it works in other states. Listing agent - represents the seller (is able to act as the buyer's agent aka selling agent) Selling agent - represents the buyer The seller aka owner of the property makes an agreement with the listing agent with what percentage of the sales price they will pay (typically 6%). When the listing agent lists the property for sale they say what the commission will be. It's usually split equally, so with a 6% listing, the selling agent (buyers agent) would get 3%. I've seen commissions at 5% split equally and some where the listing agent kept 4% and the buyers agent got 2%. Once in a while, a listing agent will actually give the buyers agent a larger split in order to incentivize them to push their property. You, as a buyer, do not pay your agent's commission. It is paid by the listing agent out of the commission they are getting from the seller. They direct the escrow company how to split their commissions. Again I've only done this in California and I know our real estate is weird sometimes. Hopefully that helps a little!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extendedforecast Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Many buyer's agents don't make you sign a buyer's agent agreement until you're ready to make an offer on a house. In fact, I won't sign with one that wants me to sign sooner than that, as I don't know that early on if that agent is really going to work for me or not. Agreed that that is how some people go about it. That wasn't what I was referring to though. I was talking about the second scenario in the post I was quoting, which said that if the agent didn't have a signed buyer rep agreement, she would split the commission with the listing agent. I wasn't aware of any standard practice or agreement (though they could come up with something I suppose) that would have the listing agent splitting her commission with the other agent who showed the property. Though now that I write this, I'm remembering there are different forms of representation listed on the sales contract. I don't have one in front of me, but I bet that is what it is. Still without the agreement I still think it's risky for the agent. We are told to always get a signed agreement. One time I didn't and the buyers (good friends of mine) went around me and bought the house with some extra incentives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Agreed that that is how some people go about it. That wasn't what I was referring to though. I was talking about the second scenario in the post I was quoting, which said that if the agent didn't have a signed buyer rep agreement, she would split the commission with the listing agent. I wasn't aware of any standard practice or agreement (though they could come up with something I suppose) that would have the listing agent splitting her commission with the other agent who showed the property. Though now that I write this, I'm remembering there are different forms of representation listed on the sales contract. I don't have one in front of me, but I bet that is what it is. Still without the agreement I still think it's risky for the agent. We are told to always get a signed agreement. One time I didn't and the buyers (good friends of mine) went around me and bought the house with some extra incentives. Thanks for explaining......... I can understand why a buyer's agent would want a written agreement at the beginning of the process. I just personally won't do it until we've chosen the property we want to buy. Stems from starting the house hunting process in a new area and not really clicking with or the buyers agent not really listening to our needs... Need to be able to change to meet my needs........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnwife Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Search "real estate sub agency" From "buyer brokerage" in wikipedia: "If the buyer does not enter into this agreement, he/she remains a customer of the broker who is then the sub-agent of seller's broker." Obviously this varies by state, but it's safe to assume you are working with the sellers agent, unless proven otherwise. If you go into Randy and Jethro's Used Cars, Randy is not your friend, and neither is Jethro. When you've been interrogated all night by Officer Bruno, and then Officer Macnamara comes in, do NOT he is your friend. Get the idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 But the agent we talked to said he will be both the buers' and the seller's agent. How is it even possible, if she is supposedely the seller's agent? But they are the same agency, I think. It is ok, but you have to know what you are doing. I buy through Seller agents all the time. However, this seems to be a new experience and so a separate agent seems to be wise here. NEVER give any unnecessary information to any agent. Keep your mouth shut and make the offer you want to make. Never say anything about going higher if your offer is rejected, or anything like that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extendedforecast Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Thanks for explaining......... I can understand why a buyer's agent would want a written agreement at the beginning of the process. I just personally won't do it until we've chosen the property we want to buy. Stems from starting the house hunting process in a new area and not really clicking with or the buyers agent not really listening to our needs... Need to be able to change to meet my needs........ I totally understand this reasoning. I've done it myself in the past. What I've found to works best for me as an agent is to show the new customers a few houses, and after spending a few hours if I feel like we are a good match, I'll present the agreement and ask them to look it over and sign it if they are interested in moving forward with me as their representative. I do real estate on a very part time basis, so I'm very picky about who I choose to work with. There have been times where I could tell I wouldn't be able to leave certain would be clients satisfied and so I've referred them to another agent and wished them the best of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extendedforecast Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 But the agent we talked to said he will be both the buers' and the seller's agent. How is it even possible, if she is supposedely the seller's agent? But they are the same agency, I think. The new agent wants to list your properties and represent you on the purchase of your new home. I think that is what he meant. This is a common practice, and as someone said earlier, he may be willing to lower his commission for the privilege. Even if you choose to retain the agent who introduced you to the property, assuming she isn't also the listing agent, you could ask for a discount based on the fact that he would be listing two properties for you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38carrots Posted January 24, 2017 Author Share Posted January 24, 2017 It is ok, but you have to know what you are doing. I buy through Seller agents all the time. However, this seems to be a new experience and so a separate agent seems to be wise here. NEVER give any unnecessary information to any agent. Keep your mouth shut and make the offer you want to make. Never say anything about going higher if your offer is rejected, or anything like that. Thank you. Okay, so here is the situation. I met with the "Friend Agent" today. I liked him. Pushy, but not too much. I do want him to sell ours, and be our buying agent for the farm. I feel horrible about the The First Agent. She was nice and sweet and a good person. But I want the go-getter now. We need this push. Shall I write to the First Agent? Send her a gift card? I don't feel we owe her $250. But maybe $40? Or is it too little? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Thank you. Okay, so here is the situation. I met with the "Friend Agent" today. I liked him. Pushy, but not too much. I do want him to sell ours, and be our buying agent for the farm. I feel horrible about the The First Agent. She was nice and sweet and a good person. But I want the go-getter now. We need this push. Shall I write to the First Agent? Send her a gift card? I don't feel we owe her $250. But maybe $40? Or is it too little? You don't owe her anything. She showed you a house and you decided to go with someone else. Thank her for her time. A gift card would be nice. I haven't read through the thread yet so I didn't see any suggestion of $250? Did the agent suggest that or someone here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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