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We found this home ourselves. I had actually contacted the owners 1 month ago before it became listed to actually rent the home because we are selling our house.
Now through a mutual friend (mutual friend knows the out of town homeowners as well). Owners contacted me directly via email. He had just listed home on MLS but now wants to pull it.
My wife had planned on seeing a home with a realtor but now I've decided to cancel the showing since it may save us both some money to negotiate directly with the homeowner.
So the question is:
Does the realtor we contacted legally have the right to any commission (from a buyer's standpoint) even though the home was never shown to us? I have previous emails from homeowners (before home was listed) to negotiate a sale. So homeowners had negogiated sale with us before it was ever listed on MLS
I know from the seller's side (he may have to wait 60 days or whatever the exclusive period in his contract expires).
But from our viewpoint, the realtor we contacted should not have any right to any buyer's side commission?
If you signed no agreements with the agent you have no obligations. The seller is obligated to his agent and needs to get that terminated correctly but that is his problem not yours.
Just cancel with the agent. He is owed nothing at this point.
Does the realtor we contacted legally have the right to any commission...
Paid by you? Did you sign anything with them?
Quote:
...(from a buyer's standpoint) even though the home was never shown to us? I have previous emails from homeowners (before home was listed) to negotiate a sale.
So homeowners had negogiated sale with us before it was ever listed on MLS...
did YOU sign anything BEFORE viewing the home?
did YOU sign anything BEFORE this "negotiation"?
did the SELLER sign anything before the negotiation?
btw... Having a chat on the front porch, even if it mention prices is NOT likely to
count as a "negotiation" unless and until an actual contract is drawn up.
Do you have your own attorney?
If not... you're past the time to have gotten one.
No, we have not signed anything with the realtor (it's actually same realtor we used to sell our home...so she's getting paid a hefty 12-13K commission already from the sale of our home).
My wife had texted our realtor to see the new home and scheduled a showing this morning but we canceled the showing this morning.
Yes, I understand the seller may have an issue with his own listing agent if he wants to terminate the listing and negotiate with us directly.
I would say if the seller already has a listing agreement, chances are that the agent will get compensated for any sale (if it's exclusive) and if you don't use a buyer's agent then the listing agent will get paid for both sides of the sale. If this is the case, use your agent to represent your interests in the transaction.
It all gets back to READING and understanding what contracts have been signed by the seller since you haven't signed anything.
I would say if the seller already has a listing agreement, chances are that the agent will get compensated for any sale (if it's exclusive) and if you don't use a buyer's agent then the listing agent will get paid for both sides of the sale. If this is the case, use your agent to represent your interests in the transaction.
It all gets back to READING and understanding what contracts have been signed by the seller since you haven't signed anything.
I understand. I emailed the seller to go over his listing agreement. I know most listing agreements include clauses (where you can terminate anytime you want). But you still cannot sell the home until the original listing expired. So you can pull the home off the market. But if his original listing were to expire on Jan 16th 2013. Than legally he cannot sell the home to me until Jan 16th 2012 without incurring charges in commission.
But if his original listing were to expire on Jan 16th 2013. Than legally he cannot sell the home
to me until Jan 16th 2012 without incurring charges in commission.
I'm gonna take a guess here and say that is NOT correct.
Had you just looked and left...it probably wouldn't matter.
But you're "negotiation" and progression toward a deal puts you on another level.
This is all speculation and answerable only by the listing agent contract.
Something you might consider is that YOU will ultimately wind-up paying whatever commission the owner eventually negotiates to get out of the listing. Therefore, you will not gain a particular $$ advantage by working directly with the owner. Beyond that, by depriving yourself of the services of a realtor (buyer side), you will add work and risk to your side of the deal. Unless you sign a "Buyers Agent agreement" with a realtor, the realtor who shows you the property is always paid out of the seller/realtor commission.
Sold our house with an agent. Lived with my folks over the summer while shopping for a new house (this was in 2008, we knew prices would go down further.) Took longer than we expected because so many homes we put offers on were short sales. I started getting frustrated with my agent because it seemed *I* was the one online, finding houses to look at. I mentioned the neighborhood we now live in, and she said "There is nothing in your price range in that neighborhood." I found the home we now live in, just a smidge over our budget. I mentioned it to her, she called the agent, but there was a contract on it. We had a lull in activity for about a month, she did not contact me with anything to look at, and I did not call her.
Just for the heck of it, I emailed the agent of the house and asked if the contract was still on the house. She said there were some issues with it, but yes, the sale was still happening. A couple weeks later, she emailed me and said the house was available again. I had her show me the house and she told me straight out that if I did not use an agent she could knock 10k off the price. We agreed and after the sale was finished I did contact my original agent (still had not heard from her, I am sure she was as sick of me as I was of her) and let her know that I was in the neighborhood she did not think we could afford and that I did the follow up on the house. (I did not write this is a snotty way, the email was friendly, thanking her for her time but I did want her to know she was incorrect on some things as well as that I did all the legwork on this house except the one call she made to the agent.)
If I were you I would stop looking at houses with your agent and let some time pass with no contact.
P.S. We ended up getting the house for 75k under the original listed price, VERY within our budget!
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