Anyone working in real estate (not mortgages)

Original post by Mici n KC

Jan 13, 2008 09:48 PM

Here's the situation. FH and I saw a house today we REALLY like and hope to make an offer. The only way I found it was through a real estate agent I have been in contact with for over 6 months (although there could have been many other ways if I didn't work with her). Now, are we supposed to go back to her and say, 'One of the house listings you sent us had an open house and we want to start negotiations' or do we just go through the REA seller of the house? The seller REA was kind of overbearing and I want someone who has best interest of us not just the seller but we don't want to spend extra money having someone help us out. What do we do?

ETS: We do not have a contract with any REA or broker so we're not tied to the one that has been sending me listings.

Emily08 Posted: Jan 14, 2008 11:27 AM

Re: Anyone working in real estate (not mortgages)

Posted by Mici n KC

Posted by 111508Bride

Just purchased a home over the summer. You should go with the broker that the seller is using for one reason...

they will be more likely to talk to the seller down in price or into accepting your offer, if they are not splitting the commission. It seems easy to just use who you trust, but really the market is so bad right now, they are all looking for what is in their best interest.

We went to so many open houses, and we used a realtor for a few months, but got much further on our own...GOOD LUCK to you! It is the best thing we did together!

That's what other's have been saying too. We have a mortgage broker in our family and we completely trust him. I think we might just work with him and get advice from him so we don't get screwed since the RE brokers would have to split the commission and would want what's in their best interest - ie a higher price home.

I disagree, and think the opposite is actually true. The other broker has more incentive to hike up the price so that they get a fatter commission. Plus, they do have a code of ethics to follow and will be protecting their client and his/her interest and definitely not yours. If your broker is good, they will negotiate a much better price for you than you could yourself with this other broker. From my experience (I'm in real estate and so is my FH), the best prices are negotiated when there are two brokers involved, one representing each side. So that no one gets bullied!

Kris0703 Posted: Jan 14, 2008 11:31 AM

Re: Anyone working in real estate (not mortgages)

Honestly..... EVERY broker/agent is out to make a sale. Yours, theirs - doesn't matter. I realized when we recently sold our condo and the BUYERS agent was more on our side at times bc they just wanted their people to buy something and bc they get paid by our (seller) broker. I feel like if you can do a lot of it on your own, your better off. A good friend of mine just bought a house and was able to talk the sellers agent to bringing the price down since he didn't have to split commission