Leaving Agent For Home Sold By Owner
REM #A676
By Ilyce R. Glink
Summary: It happens to many agents. They work with a family to buy a home and the buyer ends up purchasing a home without them resulting in a lost commission. Ilyce discusses what to do if you wish to purchase a For Sale by Owner home after working with an agent.
Q: We've looked at more than 50 houses with our agent and even made offers
on two properties. Unfortunately, those offers didn’t work out.
We've now found a house that’s for sale by owner. We’d like to
make an offer on the property, but we feel bad not buying from our agent after
she's spent so much time with us. What should we do?
A: Why don't you try to use your agent to negotiate with the seller? It’s
possible that the seller will see the wisdom of agreeing to pay 2 or 2.5 percent
to the agent and will build that commission into the final price (after you
negotiate).
If not, it would be nice (although not strictly necessary) to buy your agent
a lovely gift to say thank you for all the hard work she has put into helping
you purchase a home. You can even give him a gift card in an amount you think
is reasonable or some people even write the agent a check in order to say thank
you in a more meaningful way.
Real estate agents understand that they are going to win some and lose some.
Listing agents who cannot get a house sold know that they may eventually lose
that listing – even after putting in hundreds of hours. Buyer's agents
know that buyers decide not to buy, or they buy by-owner, or they move to a
different state or city and buy there.
Keep in mind if the deal with the for sale by owner falls through, you will
want to work with your agent again. Whatever you decide to do, it would be thoughtful
to write your agent a letter thanking her for assisting you along the path to
homeowner, and offering to recommend her to your friends.
NOTE: This column is distributed by Real Estate Matters Syndicate, PO Box 366, Glencoe, Illinois, 60022. This column may not be resold, reprinted, resyndicated or redistributed without written permission from the publisher.
Quit Claim Deed Transfers Property Taxes
Quit-Claim Deed Question
Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure Will Hurt Credit Rating
Getting Into The Real Estate Investment Business
Converting 1031 Exchange To Primary Residence
Link to This Article
Like what you've read? Spread the word! You can link to this article
from your website by copying the following code and adding it to
a page on your website:
Copyright ©2001-2007. ThinkGlink, Inc.
All rights reserved. Reproduction of material from any www.ThinkGlink.com pages without permission is strictly prohibited.
Site designed by Walker Sands Communications
