Asking a Realtor to Cut Commission

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

If you`re really going to do this (and I personally never have or will) I`d try to make it seem win-win. When they come back to you with a price and you`re really close, say something like: ``This is a great place, but I`m already at the absolute max I can pay for it. Is there any way we can work together to make this deal happen``

Yeah, as long as the work together takes money out of your wallet and shows that I put absoutely no value in what you do for a living.

In other words its win win for me, you mr agent can suck balls

I don't know what the op does for a living, but what if I asked him to pay for part of whatever goods or services or hourly rate that he pays to you know get a deal done.

Would he do it, or would he say, screw that, I work hard for a living I want whats coming to me?

The amount of disdain and the lack of understanding that people show towards individuals that sell goods or services for a living totally grinds my gears.

[Travis Munroe]

I cant believe I missed all the fun..... I enjoy when a client tells me they are not going any higher. That is when the fun negotiating kicks in and you need to turn it all around and get the point through the the seller that they are letting this deal collapse over 4k.
With that being said, easy to judge from the outside.

[Travis Munroe]

One last point, while 4k is quite high there are several ways to work around it.
- I have had other agents say to me "we are $1000 apart, wanna split it?".
- Use the new MLS rule to your advantage, tell them that you want them to come down to your ceiling but they do not have to disclose that it is conditionally sold and that they can continue advertising the home until you have a firm deal. This will give them the mind set they can possibly get more.
- Put down a larger deposit so they feel more secure you are going to close or reduce the amount on your property inspection walk away figure.
- Is the home vacant? have a quick close on it which will cost the sellers less.

There are so many ways to make a seller feel like they have won and realistically that is how you get the best deal. I have written offers and asked for washers and dryers to be included when my buyer didnt even want them and they were not included in the sale. Why? because as you negotiate you can make them feel like they won a part of the battle by getting them back.

[afc wimbledon]

Nothing wrong with telling your (LOL!) agent, 'its about $4000 to rich for me, unless you guys can get the price down I am walking' but only if you are going to walk, its a business deal, both your and the vendors agent are in the business of selling the house, as a buyer you arn't really represented by either of them, and, unless things are different over there, you don't have a contract with either of them.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by HammeR_

Thanks for the input.

Go back to the OP this was meant to be a what if discussion about negotiating. I thought the number one rule was to maintain your position of power

This thread isnt really about negotiating though, you already hired her and agreed to a cost. This thread is about you wanting something for nothing.

[Red]

To OP. You'd be stupid if you didn't at least try to get the RE fees down.
Nothing wrong with that.
Realtors are asked this more often than you think. I have done this twice before, as a buyer and seller and with success.
One thing to keep in mind is that when the RE fees have been negotiated and lowered by seller, it is the selling realtor taking the hit. The buying realtor still gets the 3.5 + 1.5.

Commission to buyer is (was last time I bought) listed in the listings book the agents get. If that number is less than 3.5+1.5 then the buyers agent will conveniently skip that listing.

[Sliver]

Man what a weasel!

The problem is you're looking at houses out of your price range. If your realtor can negotiate the price into your price range, that's great. If she can't, don't try to take money out of her pocket to get it done. Look at cheaper houses you can afford.

Negotiating a realtor's commission down is fine if you do it before she agrees to take you on as a client. Now it's too late. How do people even think like this? Poor upbringing? Wires crossed? I don't get it.

[4X4]

OP, your whole attitude grinds my gears. First of all, $4,000 on a $400,000 house is about half of the gross commission your buying agent is supposed to get. So you want him/her to suddenly do their job for half price because you think this deal was easy? Manm, I'd love for your boss to walk into your cubicle and tell you that your week was particularly easy, so unless you agree to get paid half, you wont be getting paid at all.

[Rathji]

Both realtors for my first house offered to split a hit on commission to bridge a gap that was holding up negotiations, but they offered it, not us. I can see a reason for that, but I can't see any reason why a buying realtor should accept (or even be asked) so far into the process.

[HammeR_]

Many of you still dont get that as a buyer, i do not pay realtor commissions, it comes out of the sellers pockets. There is never an agreement between realtor/buyer for a set commission, at leasst not in my case.

Poor upbringing? C'mon

[Slava]

Maybe you should just ask her for a cheque for $4k? Her job is so easy that she can just do a deal somewhere else and make it anyway.

[Kybosh]

Forget about the commission, it's out of your hands for this deal. Focus on some other bargaining chips to make the deal. When I bought my house, the seller desperately wanted to keep their washer/dryer. Once I found that out, I insisted on them including the appliances in the deal even though I never wanted them. That alone dropped the price about $3000.

[puckluck]

Originally Posted by HammeR_

Many of you still dont get that as a buyer, i do not pay realtor commissions, it comes out of the sellers pockets. There is never an agreement between realtor/buyer for a set commission, at leasst not in my case.

Poor upbringing? C'mon

No, people "get it", but it doesn't make it any less of a slimy move.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by HammeR_

Many of you still dont get that as a buyer, i do not pay realtor commissions, it comes out of the sellers pockets. There is never an agreement between realtor/buyer for a set commission, at leasst not in my case.

Poor upbringing? C'mon

Who cares where the commission comes from, you are asking your realtor to eat a portion of her commission without discussing it when you 'hired' her. She has an expectation to get a certain commission when she finds you a house of a certain value that fits your needs.

For her to find that house, and you to try and force her to cut that commission in half is not right. You can ask and she can say no, but if you refuse to buy the house unless she does, then that is pretty crappy.

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by HammeR_

Many of you still dont get that as a buyer, i do not pay realtor commissions, it comes out of the sellers pockets. There is never an agreement between realtor/buyer for a set commission, at leasst not in my case.

Poor upbringing? C'mon

Umm no, many of us have bought/sold property over the years and have a solid understanding of how it works. As Slava pointed out, what your asking is no different than asking the realtor to cut you a $4,000 cheque.

You're original question of "How about asking her to cut her commission by 4k and eat the difference?" has been answered many times over, with many options for alternatives to it.

Tl;dr: No, asking your realtor to cut their commission is not kosher, you may have other negotiating options.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by photon

It's not making $4k in a week, for every time that happens there's other times where people look at 20 houses and buy nothing, or put in offers but don't get accepted, or have a house up for sale for a year with no movement, or whatever else.

All the realtors I've ever worked with work really hard for the money they make, and they aren't raking it in compared to the effort.

This.

I've had one realtor working with me for about 18 months and we still haven't found what I'm looking for. She does such great work that I refer others to her that have bought and some on the first house they look at. For all the sales they make, there are many more times sales are not made. How the realtor does in those non sales and how they treat their clients is what really gives them a good reputation in my opinion.

In my line of work, so often I hear, it only takes you 15 minutes to do it, why do you charge me $100? It didn't take me 15 minutes, it took four years in university, a Master's degree, 3 years of articling and 3 years of private practice work in order for me to do it in 15 minutes. If it was that easy, you could have done it yourself.

[Old Yeller]

I like the fact that because everyone is calling you out on this that we all don't "get it". Forget the fact that a lot of us are no doubt older than you and have gone through a house selling/buying process multiple times.

We all get it, but if you can't exceed your budget anymore, and to be honest there's nothing wrong with that, then obviously this house wasn't meant to be.

[OldDutch]

Another option might be to try and get money back from someone we can all agree does not need it...the bank.

Buy the house, and see how much of a discount you can finance at. I know there was a posted rate, and a rate we negotiated with the bank. If you work out the math, you probably can recoup some or all of the $4K over the entire term in interest.

I know playing the points is not as tangible as a $4K cheque, but it is money none the less. Also, you can sleep better at night knowing you didn't screw someone over by using bad business practices.

[CaptainCrunch]

I've talked to a couple of friends and it sounds like you're asking her to give up half of her or his commission for her to get the deal.

I get negotiating I do it everyday, its not up to her or any agent to give up her or his direct income for you to make a deal.

It dosen't matter if its 10 hours or 50 hours or whatever, that's the number that was agreed to when you engaged, you could have stopped the process when you looked at a house that was out of your price range and moved onto another house in your price range.

The movement point comes from either the person that owns the hosue, or the person that wants to buy the house.

Not the agent or her commission.

I agree with the point, in the overall picture that commission is making up for the soft months or for the people that burgler her time.

My sympathies to your agent.

Personally I would work through my rolodex to see if I can find someone else that isn't going to ask me to take a 50% cut on my pay to make a deal.

[troutman]

I'll say it again - don't talk about breaching a contract in a public forum.