Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

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cbr shadow
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Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by cbr shadow »

My wife and I are moving to Chicago and are using a realtor to help us find a house. Our realtor has met me at houses 5 times to view the houses, but we're still looking. I think she does her job well. Just by luck my wife was connected with a local couple who plans on selling their house, and the house is perfect for us, is a great price, etc. The home owners have not listed on MLS, do not have a realtor, etc. They want to save on realtor fees by selling to us without the use of realtors. We're not in any type of contract with our realtor.
We're likely to buy this house without our realtor, but I don't want to leave the realtor with nothing since she's invested some time into our house search.
What is protocol in this situation? What would you do?
Doc7
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by Doc7 »

I’m not sure of the answer to your question.

I would urge you to take caution in the process you are describing and ensure you are not being preyed upon.
Firemenot
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by Firemenot »

You found the house. The realtor had nothing to do with it. You have no contract with the agent. If you had purchased one of the homes she showed, the listing agent would have owed her a commission. She took a few swings. She knows the game.

You have no obligation. Nor should you feel one with a FSBO listing you found.

You could offer her a few K out of your pocket to do the paperwork and oversee the proceas. I’m sure she’ll turn it down. But there are fixed fee realtors that will do that sort of thing for a couple K (payable upon close) so it’s not totally out of line.
Luckywon
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by Luckywon »

Win some lose some. If you had bought the first house she showed you, I doubt she would have returned part of her fee in consideration of doing less work.
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enad
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by enad »

What Goes Up Must come down -- David Clayton-Thomas (1968), BST
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Watty
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by Watty »

Be sure to use a lawyer to make your offer and through each of the steps of buying the house since you are not using a real estate agent even if using a lawyer is not always done in your local market.

Assuming that you were using her as a traditional real estate agent you owe her nothing other than good reviews on web sites and referring other people to her.

Her role in your house hunting was to find you a house to buy and even though she did good work that did not happen.
tunafish
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by tunafish »

Watty wrote: Sun Apr 02, 2023 12:57 am Be sure to use a lawyer to make your offer and through each of the steps of buying the house since you are not using a real estate agent even if using a lawyer is not always done in your local market.

Assuming that you were using her as a traditional real estate agent you owe her nothing other than good reviews on web sites and referring other people to her.

Her role in your house hunting was to find you a house to buy and even though she did good work that did not happen.
OP, be sure to use an experienced real estate attorney when you buy the house,
Parkinglotracer
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by Parkinglotracer »

cbr shadow wrote: Sat Apr 01, 2023 11:27 pm My wife and I are moving to Chicago and are using a realtor to help us find a house. Our realtor has met me at houses 5 times to view the houses, but we're still looking. I think she does her job well. Just by luck my wife was connected with a local couple who plans on selling their house, and the house is perfect for us, is a great price, etc. The home owners have not listed on MLS, do not have a realtor, etc. They want to save on realtor fees by selling to us without the use of realtors. We're not in any type of contract with our realtor.
We're likely to buy this house without our realtor, but I don't want to leave the realtor with nothing since she's invested some time into our house search.
What is protocol in this situation? What would you do?
You don’t owe the realtor anything. We have bought a realtor a $250 Amazon gift certificate to say thanks - it was a small token but they didn’t spend much time with us. We have also bought a 350K house w/ a realtor after looking at Just 5 places 1 afternoon with them then found the listed place we bought on Zillow. That worked out much better for the realtor. I would do what you think is appropriate.

Get a good house inspection and consider ask sellers to fill out a sellers disclosure statement. Foundation, roof, hvac, windows, mold, water problems, sewer, school system, etc are always good to look at hard. Some municipalities will have records on line of any work permits pulled so that can help understand house history. Get a good lawyer review of the contract. If you are not sure if you are paying an appropriate amount for the house you could pay for a professional appraisal. Congrats and good luck.
Kookaburra
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by Kookaburra »

You don’t owe them anything. But expect some fireworks when you tell them. [An unnecessary comment was removed - moderator ClaycordJCA.].
stan1
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by stan1 »

Read your contract with your realtor (if you signed one).

If you are not paying a commission the house should cost about 4-6% less than comps. Comparable sales will generally have commissions priced into them since most houses are sold using realtors. Maybe you agree to split that savings with the seller, or the seller agrees to give it all to you. Or, if the house is very desirable, maybe it's a cost you have to pay to get special access to the property without going through a bidding war.
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8foot7
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by 8foot7 »

I would probably write a check for $250 to the realtor personally, or, if that makes you uncomfortable, an Amazon gift card or a gift card/certificate to a nice local restaurant. You don't owe anything; you would have paid her to find you a house, and she didn't, and she could have charged you an hourly fee and not a piece of the eventual house she'd find you if she wanted, but she didn't, because she makes more overall taking a small piece of a large consummated pie than she would charging hourly for her services.
Big Dog
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by Big Dog »

Agree with the others. You owe the agent nothing bcos they didn't find you a house to purchase. That' s how commissions work. That said, once you tell the Agent, I bet they'll volunteer to assist you with the private sell for xx dollars, which you can decline.

But if you fill guilty for using their time, a gift card is a good solution. (Amazon, Starbucks, or even some discounted restaurant cards from costco.). Personally, I wound't go more than $100.
NickL
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by NickL »

Realtors basically maintain a cartel on the industry. FSBO is almost impossible because a buyers agent won’t touch it. Fees should have been driven lower by technology but have been largely maintained by the cartel. I would not feel any guilt for bypassing the cartel in this situation, assuming you didn't sign anything
Firemenot
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by Firemenot »

NickL wrote: Sun Apr 02, 2023 12:30 pm Realtors basically maintain a cartel on the industry. FSBO is almost impossible because a buyers agent won’t touch it. Fees should have been driven lower by technology but have been largely maintained by the cartel. I would not feel any guilt for bypassing the cartel in this situation, assuming you didn't sign anything
Agree and it’s insane that for a multi-million dollar house most realtors think they’re doing you a favor by giving you a “discounted” rate of 5%. In my area where a small house can sell for $2 million, it’s simply outrageous for the agents/brokers to suck off 100K from such a transaction.

Only monopolistic forces can explain how that system has been maintained.
Sconie
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by Sconie »

You don't owe the real estate agent a thing.
I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. - Alan Greenspan
CPA without a cause
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by CPA without a cause »

i am not a fan of the real estate cartel and all that goes along with it. that being said, how many hours did your realtor spend helping you look at homes? 10-20 total? maybe offer this person $100/hr for their time? you don't owe it to them but if i had a good relationship with this person and they were helpful it would be a nice thing to do. they are still a person trying to make a living, with bills to pay, etc.
Carefreeap
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by Carefreeap »

While you're not obligated to do anything, I've bought mine a gift certificate to a nice local restuarant.

I've been an agent. I know how much work goes into researching, previewing and showing homes. I like treating people well. Most people appreciate it.
Every day I can hike is a good day.
Topic Author
cbr shadow
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Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately

Post by cbr shadow »

In case someone ends up finding this thread later I thought I'd post an update. We are under contract for the house mentioned above and didn't use the realtor. I called the realtor and told her, and the conversation went really well. I think she's hoping we'll use her in the future and also send her referrals, which we will do. She was friendly and understanding - no fireworks and no pushback at all.
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