Found a buyer before listing, can I avoid paying commission?

[shermanator]

Basically, I plan on selling my condo and buying a house in the next few months. From the selling end, I’ve had my realtor over for a quick meeting where he has checked out my condo and we’ve discussed a list price. No further work has been done on the selling end, but I am going to look at houses tomorrow.

I also have a friend who has been interested in buying the condo as an investment property for a number of months as well, and he wants to buy the place whenever I’m ready to sell. We’ve discussed the sale price and come to an agreement. He thinks I should avoid using a realtor to avoid having to pay the commission and saving myself 5 figures.

Is this something I can do? Since I have not listed the place yet, is there a way I can avoid paying commission on the sale of my condo? Or, is this just a dick move on my part? Since I’m still buying a house through the realtor, they are still getting a 5 figure commission either way, but the thought of having an extra 5 figures to throw towards the mortgage is appealing.

[ranchlandsselling]

Originally Posted by shermanator

Basically, I plan on selling my condo and buying a house in the next few months. From the selling end, I’ve had my realtor over for a quick meeting where he has checked out my condo and we’ve discussed a list price. No further work has been done on the selling end, but I am going to look at houses tomorrow.

I also have a friend who has been interested in buying the condo as an investment property for a number of months as well, and he wants to buy the place whenever I’m ready to sell. We’ve discussed the sale price and come to an agreement. He thinks I should avoid using a realtor to avoid having to pay the commission and saving myself 5 figures.

Is this something I can do? Since I have not listed the place yet, is there a way I can avoid paying commission on the sale of my condo? Or, is this just a dick move on my part? Since I’m still buying a house through the realtor, they are still getting a 5 figure commission either way, but the thought of having an extra 5 figures to throw towards the mortgage is appealing.

Hardly think it's a dick move. Just need an experienced lawyer for each of you for selling/buying your condo. I'm assuming you didn't sign anything. If the realtor is reasonable he/she should understand. Giving the realtor the buying commission is showing you're not being a jerk, the sale process just didn't go anywhere. A realtor's commission is based on them listing, showing, marketing the property, and negotiating the sale. Anything before that is marketing themselves to you as a realtor. He/she clearly did a good enough job to continue acting as your buying realtor. I can't keep track of the amount of deals I've discussed with potential clients that never went anywhere and there's no hard feelings.

That said, maybe Travis has a different opinion.

[MillerTime GFG]

You could always negotiate his commission so that it's not 5 figures if you really feel bad about it and want to give him something.

[Travis Munroe]

I wouldnt sweat it if I was you. Nothing is signed so you are not bound to pay any commissions.
Even if it was signed, I would hope any reasonable person/Realtor would congratulate you on the savings and move onto finding you a new home.
If they have ordered a sign install, photographs were taken, measurements, etc then it is a different story but based on your post - no dick move what so ever.