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When it’s FREE, you do get what you pay for. A kind act, if and when, is not a good strategy to go on for an expensive purchase.

There are two fees. One to do the buyer stuff (including opening the door) and one to do the seller stuff. The buyer stuff isn’t the seller stuff. If all you want the agent to do is open the door and stand there for 30 minutes and maybe answer questions off the top of their head without due consideration of the subject matter of the question, then come up with a fee for that, that isn’t ZERO.

I once had a client who bought a property. The listing agent was representing the seller for FREE ( a rare event, but happened in this case). My buyer client got a great deal.

Free rarely, if ever, offers a sufficient exchange. $10 could get you $10 worth, but free almost always leaves you short on something.

Kary,

If you are presenting offers, you could let the buyer see it when you get to the house with the offers. But that doesn’t give them much time to think about it, so their offer would be “thin” as in maybe they will change their mind, their not having had adequate time to think it over.

Anyway you slice it, my accommodating that buyer would be a disservice to them, as anything I might be able to do for them, would be lesser than if they got their own agent in advance of offers being presented. It would be worse than Dual Agency to do as they ask instead of telling them to do what they should do.

I can get an agent in my office to do it while I’m getting the offers ready…but not for free most times. Nor is it reasonable in most cases to ask them to do that for free.

So denismurf. No, it really isn’t OK to ask the agent for the seller to work for you for free That’s my bottom line…today.

We have a townhome in Edmonds, approx 1400 sf. It’s 11 years old. We’re looking at doing some sprucing up and wanted some advise.
1. We want to replace all the flooring, both downstairs (kitchen, living, dining room, .5 bath) and upstairs (bedrooms, 2 baths). Is it best to have wood (or engineered wood) flooring on the main floor and go with carpeting upstairs (except the baths) or wood in the kitchen/eating area/.5 bath and carpeting everywhere else? We’re going to continue to live here so we have to be happy with our choice. I’m leaning towards wood but can’t help but think it will feel cold 9 months of the year!
2. We want to replace the counters and are considering granite or quartz. Any opinion on either one? Should we put the same counter in the .5 bath as the kitchen (you access the bath from the kitchen eating area). We currently have ugly laminate in the kitchen and tile in the bath.
3. Our cabinets are light maple and in pretty good condition. We’re thinking of painting them an antique white because we really don’t like the current color. We don’t want to replace them and I think refacing them with a laminate wood would cost too much and possibly look cheap.
All suggestions would be great!
Thanks for all your help.

Actually, I stopped following who said what about 100 comments ago

It just appears that the discussion has degraded and is now headed in a bad direction.

I can’t speak for anyone else, only myself. Our office has a recommended fee schedule that we try to adhere to when it comes to listings. What we offer to buyer’s agents is up to the individual agent.

In the up market I offered less, now I may offer more. However, with REO listing contracts the banks do tend to tell me what they want me to offer to buyer’s agent.

Which brings up another point … I often receive offers where the buyer’s agent tries to negotiate their commission up (wrong place to do it!). I’ve had some do this by putting in language like “commission to be split equally.” What they don’t realize is that many times they are receiving more than I am. They are, in effect, negotiating their fee DOWN. If I were less of a person, I’d just let it slide and fulfill their desire for an equal split just to prove a point!

- James

Jillayne, with the scenario in the comments, I believe it’s a broker (yes, that’s a real scenario) and I’ve advised the borrower to contact DFI.

With the scenario in the post, I’m assuming it’s a bank since that’s what the borrower refered to the lender as. However, they are not in WA State.

The FOMC cut the Funds Rate another 0.25% to 2.00% based on an 8-2 vote.  Remember, this does not mean that the 30 year fixed rate is now 0.25% lower.   This does mean that if you have a HELOC that is attached to Prime (and it’s not fixed), your rate will go down 0.25%.  Prime will be reduced to 5.00%. 

The FOMC also reduced the Discount Rate 0.25% to 2.25%. 

The Fed Statement regarding today’s rate cuts will have a more dramatic impact mortgage rates (mortgage backed securities).

“Recent information indicates that economic activity remains weak. Household and business spending has been subdued and labor markets have softened further. Financial markets remain under considerable stress, and tight credit conditions and the deepening housing contraction are likely to weigh on economic growth over the next few quarters….

The Committee expects inflation to moderate in coming quarters, reflecting a projected leveling-out of energy and other commodity prices…”

The 0.25% rate cut was highly anticipated and all ready priced into the market.   We’ll see how bonds react once the markets have a chance to absorb the statement and Fed actions today.    This week will remain very volatile with rates…tomorrow is loaded with economic indicators and Friday, we have the big daddy:  The Jobs Report.

• Fed Funds Rate now at 4.25%
• Surprise! Fed Cuts Funds Rate by 0.75%
• Friday’s Rates for Leap Day
• Fed Funds Rate now at 3%
• Friday’s Rate Sheet

Rhonda,

In your scenario, was the LO a bank loan officer or licensed loan originator working under a broker?

you know as i got up and began to walk away:

I’d pay to do this Real Estate thing. There is nothing like it in the world. That first night after making an offer when nobody sleeps; the fun, the excitement. There’s nothing like it!

as i say many times when i come here, it just gets worse.

every client i work with gets representation to the very best of my ability. i don’t count commissions until the dealing is done, and you just never know.

i do look at listing agents because some agents either over price or under price properties. one listing agent i did three deals with before being told by the company that he and i should avoid each other.

i’m a grinder. i offer fair market value or, if the buyer insists less than fair market value. if it’s a strong buyer i’ll write a low offer. i said fair market value, i research every property before the offer and determine fair market value. just because some other real estate agent says so, doesn’t make it so.

like i said it’s what i do, the commission goes to my broker, my broker pays me according to my negotiated agreement.

in the process yes there are dollars that effect my negotiations. those are the buyer’s dollars. the buyer is the one bringing the money to the table. i remember that as a part of a buyer or sellers best interest.

my bigger motivation is the deal. i can’t do deals for free because of the liability issue. i can’t charge consulting fees because the system isn’t set up that way. i do charge between 1.5% to 5% for a transaction.

i disclose my fees to every buyer, but it’s my call, and a part of my negotiation with my buyer. i have rules. the buyer and i interview each other.

if that property is perfect for the buyer at a price that’s good, or in the best interest of my buyer we do the deal. i’ll grind it for fun. in the big scheme of things it all works out.

Craig, there’s no reason the SOC has to not be discussed or disclosed. If a client asked of course it’s disclosed. And I do sometimes discuss commissions with clients, just not typically at the per house level.

But I don’t see the comparison as being apples and oranges at all. The conflict is greater for the attorney because they’re assured of being paid, where the agent has to have a successful offer to get paid, and not showing certain properties is going to make that less likely. Perhaps our difference is I’m thinking back to a particular attorney, who really would blow smoke up the client’s XXX until they couldn’t see straight, thereby generating more fees (there’s more than one way to be a rainmaker). And other attorneys who never seemed to settle anything and were always going to trial. Maybe attorneys should have to disclose up front how many of their cases they take to trial versus settle?

Another example my mother brought up recently. Years ago a doctor mentioned surgery, so she got a second opinion, and the second doctor said it was totally unnecessary. She’s still alive, so apparently the second doctor was right. Should the first doctor have to disclose that her surgery would have allowed him to buy a new boat (that was her comment last night–which is why I mentioned that above.).

People know that there are conflicts regarding pay. I don’t think you need to disclose the obvious.

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