Will you reduce the commission if you bring the buyer? That sounds like a reasonable request to make to a listing agent - until you dig just a little bit deeper into how that affects the sale of your home.
Here are three of the most common negative side effects.
1) Nobody likes to get into a bidding war against someone with an unfair advantage. Listing agents are required by the MLS to notify other Realtors that you'll be saving money if your listing agent brings the buyer. Other agents realize that you would likely choose an offer written by your listing agent over their offer. That could cause that agent to encourage their buyers to make an offer on another property that they could have a better chance of getting accepted.
2) When a buyer walks in to your open house, your listing agent would be financially motivated to sell them a different property and wait for a different agent to bring you a buyer. That other property would likely pay a higher commission to them as a buyer's agent. That is why it is not uncommon for a struggling agent to agree to a reduced commission to get a listing. They use that listing to draw new buyers for as long as it is an active listing. The longer it is on the market, the more chance they have to gain new business.
3) If you are choosing an agent because they've agreed to reduce the commission if they bring the buyer, just realize that they have agreed to something that you will very possibly never benefit from. I suggest that you choose your listing agent for much better reasons than that. With that said... I believe I've just found the topic for my next blog.
Thanks for reading. - Steve
Steve Martin Smith is a Top 1% REALTOR who specializes in Residential New Construction and Resale in Sarasota County, including Venice and The West Villages.
SteveMartinHomes.com is the GO-TO Real Estate site for Sarasota, Charlotte and Manatee Counties.
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If you are one of those smart home owners that plans to read reviews and do some research and do face to face interviews with a Realtor before you decide who you are going to trust with one of your most expensive and important investments, then this information is for you.
If one of the questions you are going to ask is “will you reduce the commission if you bring the buyer” well then there are certainly more questions you need to follow up with. To make sure there is even a chance that they will bring the buyer.
If the agent you are interviewing says “yes I will reduce the commission if I bring the buyer, then your next question is, “can I see the report from your local MLS that shows me how many of your listings you have brought the buyer to?” Now doesn’t that sound like a great question?
The next question could be, “why would you bother bringing a buyer to a listing that you’re going to make less money on for that buyer when you could sell them any other house and make more money on it. Come on, let’s be honest. Where’s your motivation here?”
“If I’m counting on you to be the expert in selling my house, now wouldn’t I want you to be as motivated as every other buyer’s agent out there to bring the buyer, not just put it on the MLS and let somebody else do the work. C’mon now… did you just say that you’d reduce the commission so that you would get this listing?”
We’re just speaking the truth here at MyFavoriteRealtors.com