| Effective immediately, a real estate agent CAN NOT show any properties unless you, as a buyer, have a signed Buyer Agency Agreement with them. This is a non-negotiable new ruling. The agreements will outline the duties and responsibilities owed to you by your agent as well as indicate the compensation owed to them for their professional services. The agreements are flexible in terms of outlining which town(s) you are interested in looking within and can also be restricted to a week, a month, several months, etc. It is between you and your agent to come up with a comfortable scenario. The compensation is officially the buyer’s responsibility however it is expected that most sellers in our area will continue to offer a commission to the buyer’s agent which will offset what the buyer must pay. For example, if the agreed upon buyer agent commission is 2.5% and a seller is offering to pay 2%, then the buyer would be responsible for paying the additional ½% to their agent at the closing. Prior to showing you properties, your agent can let you know which houses have sellers who are paying, and at what level, and which do not. When you have that information, you can decide if you only want to see properties that have the seller paying or if you are okay making that payment. There may also be options to discuss with your agent whereby they may be able to negotiate having the seller pay a bit more if your offer is accepted. This is a work in progress and communication will always be the key. We’ll continue to update you as we learn more.Have questions? Give us a call, we’re happy to answer all your questions.Fran-646-734-3718 or Randy 646-734-9077 |
| Buyer Agency Agreements |