If an investor came to me and wanted me to take only 3.5 commission on a 7% listing, I would probably not do it. I would advise them to get a buyers agent and bring him into the deal.
Why would I do that?
Because I’m doing twice the paper work for the same amount of commission. If I’m only going to get paid 3.5% commission either way, it only makes sense that I take the path of least resistance. I’m not going to work for the buyer and seller for 3.5 when I could simply work for the seller and make the same 3.5.
The following message is one I posted, but it was pretty far down the page as a response to another message. I thought some people might get some use out of it so I decided to post it in it’s own thread. I realize the veterans in here already know this trick, but some of the newer investors might get some use out of it. So, here it is.
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Just a thought here…
If you have to go through a Realtor (yes, I am one) then you should be able to negotiate with him a little bit. If he seems like he doesn’t want to write up and present your offer to the buyer. Hint around to the fact that you came to him/her and you could go to another Realtor and have them write up the offer. This will usually do the trick.
The First Realtor (listing agent) will get the entire commission if it sells. If you bring in another Realtor (buyers agent), his commission is cut in half since he has to pay the other Realtor.
You can sometimes get the listing agent to kick in some cash at closing by using this method too. Ask him to kick in 2% or something like that. On a 7% commission, that means he will still get 5%. If you bring in another Realtor, he will only get 3.5%
I do this myself. I go one further, and if I buy from a listing agent, meaning there is no co-op of commission, I demand 3.5%. anything more than that and they arent really ‘giving’ anything, because I do have a favorite agent I’ll bring in for 1%, (making the total commission 4.5%, she figures 1% is better than none, and I do let her in the back end (sell), at a discount of course).
Point is… if ya dont ask, ya dont know!
Good luck all
