When I buy a home am I obligated to pay the real estate agent or is the seller??
Thanks
2007-03-17 15:49:19 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Business & Finance ➔ Renting & Real Estate
When you buy a home you aren't paying the realtor, the seller is. You will get a settlement Truth in Lending disclosure sheet 24 hours before the closing (you might have to ask for it ahead of time but they are required to make it available to you 24 hours in advance). Get your own agent if you don't already have one. As the buyer you want someone watching out for your interests. The agent who listed the house is the seller's agent, not yours.
2007-03-17 15:54:25 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
no, it is not true that the seller ALWAYS pays the entire commission so that the buyer broker is reimbursed/paid. but it is very usual.
a few buyer brokers need to get a few hundred up front ($200 - $400) so that it covers administrative fees, but that is ENORMOUSLY RARE, in fact, it is so rare that i only heard of that one time. if yours is required to, by its office, then talk to the managing broker of the office to see what can be done about it. if you MUST pay, then it should be said in your buyer broker agreement that upon closing, you will get that amount back, paid in full. or that at the date your fiduciary relationship to the broker ends (after 6 months would be ample), that some portion of that is paid to you.
rest assured. the only time that the buyer pays me instead of the seller paying me is when my buyer wants me to track down the owner of unlisted dumps and tell the owner that the buyer will pay me, not the seller. that is the only way that he can obtain such real estate, oftentimes.
this is the normal way it works: you get a pre approval letter from your lender saying how much of a house you can afford, and for how long the letter will be good for, since it has an interest range in it. then you meet a buyer broker that you like at an office. she will explain the word "agency" to you to your full satisfaction. if she can't, go elsewhere.
"agency" is the singlemost important concept that both a buyer and seller must understand: it means that your AGENT acts something like your attorney: they NEVER tell the other party what your negotiating tactics are, whether you will pay more, or how much more, for the property than what you offer, and they never say your private reasons for wanting that house (because any of that could give the seller undue advantage over you). on the seller agent side, it's similar, but sort of opposite: the seller broker protects the seller's interests only. THAT IS WHAT YOU HAVE TO KNOW.
so, in reference to a buyer broker commission, when you close the deal, in about 99.7% of every deal i ever closed, the seller pays a percentage of the final sale price to the selling broker. one half of that is given to the managing broker of the buyer agent. then, each half is additionally cut up between the agent that helped you consummate your purchase and the agent that handled all the showings and other things that helped the seller sell the house. usually the entire pie is split up in quarters.
sorry i am so verbose, but i know how scary it is to go into your first purchase. this is such a small matter that you should not allow it to add to your worries. and, fyi: if you find a good buyer broker, you have nothing to worry about anyhow.
PS: a trade secret for you: no matter how much you love the house you want, act quite detached when looking at it. do not discuss where you will place your bed, etc. if the seller is there and she or he has something beautiful in the house, do pay a compliment. often a seller sells to you only because you appreciate some part of what they are.
MUCH HAPPINESS IN YOUR HOME!!!
2007-03-17 17:01:59 · answer #2 · answered by Louiegirl_Chicago 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
read your contract with you real estate agent, while it is traditional for the seller to pay for the 7 % or so, some agents that are working on your behalf, not he seller, are going to charge a fee. make sure you know what obligations that you are getting into.
2007-03-17 15:57:03 · answer #3 · answered by mjlee105 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The seller ALWAYS pays the Realtor fees. You pay NOTHING to the Realtor (commission) when you buy a home. The seller does. Conversely, when you sell, everything is reversed and YOU pay the fees.
2007-03-17 16:01:37 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The seller pays the realtor.
2007-03-17 15:53:26 · answer #5 · answered by ♥Tami 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋