Realtor Commision When Selling For Sale By Owner?

I am selling my home and I had some prospective buyers contact me directly and say they found my home in the paper, looked at my website online, and drove past it. They said they loved the home and wanted to see it by the end of the week. Then a few days later I get an email from them stating their realtor would be contacting me to set up a specific time to see it. Should I feel obligated to pay the realtor a set commision? If so how much? And how to negotiate the percentage?Realtor Commision When Selling For Sale By Owner?
I have to STRONGLY disagree with ';expert realtor'; claiming 3% is the ';standard';. See, if there was a ';standard'; that would be ';price fixing'; and a violation of anti-trust laws. I never discuss what I charge with other REALTORS for this very reason.





There is no standard, we all charge what we believe we are worth and what the market will allow.


Now as far as the original question goes, if that REALTOR and the buyer expect you to pay a commission it will be in the contract, otherwise I don't see how you'd have an obligation. Without some written contract, you're not really agreeing to anything by letting either of them in the door. But you might want to avoid a potential problem, contact the REALTOR and just frankly ask who is paying the fee and then negotiate to suit your needs.Realtor Commision When Selling For Sale By Owner?
You never signed a contract with the agent. The agent is representing the ';buyer'; in this transaction and is going to negotiate with you to get the best deal possible for his client - the ';BUYER';.





For some reason the buyer decided to not work directly with a ';For Sale by Owner'; and to bring an agent in on the deal. It could be a fear of not being able to fill out contracts or it could be that the agent is a friend and is helping out. Either way, it has nothing to do with your decision to sell your home FSBO. You owe nothing to the ';buyer's agent';.





The agent will want to use his standard sales contract in this sale. Carefully read the contract, it may have something in there about who is responsible for paying the commission. If you use his contract, make sure you have your real estate attorney read the contract also before signing. If you do not have a real estate attorney, decide which title company you want to close on your home and contact them. Make sure they have real estate attorneys on staff. The fee for an attorney to advise you on the contract varies from about $150.00 to $300.00. It is well worth it especially if this is the first time you sell a home yourself.





In instances where you (as a FSBO seller) would pay a fee to the agent is if an agent approached you and said, ';I have someone who may be interested in your home. Would you be willing to pay me a 2% commission if I sell your home?'; If you answered ';yes';, the agent would prepare a contract with you for a one-time showing or some other terms. You would read the contract and decide to agree or not agree to the terms and then proceed from there.
An FSBO means no commissions to the selling agent (In California, a selling agent is the one that brings the buyer). You can tell the broker you are not interested in listing with him. Any commission that the broker wants would have to come from the seller so you may want to tell him or her that you are not signing any listing agreement.





The buyer can sign an Exclusive Right to Locate Property agreement with a commission to be paid by the buyer, not you.
If the buyer has contacted you directly without their agent and then they tell you that their agent will call to set up an appointment with you be careful. You want to make sure that the buyer isn't saying one thing and the agent another. Also you need to make sure you don't sign any paperwork without checking all clauses and contingencies first. Agents can and will use those to legally get out of a contract as well as hold you to it. In Ca, agents tell their buyers that they should request closing costs and commission to be paid by the Seller. In Indiana, the Seller automatically pays commission and closing costs,so you can see how different states apply the rules of the contract. Commission is actually divided in two (3% buyer's agent and 3% seller's agent) with the total usually at 6%. This can go as low as 4%-5% if all parties agree (but not likely).
You are not obligated to pay the agent a commission, however, I sure hope you can afford to shut out every buyer that has an agent...these buyers have already signed contracts with their agents.





3% is industry standard on a buyer's agent.





Keep in mind that only 5% of all homes are sold FSBO...so by not accepting a buyer that has a Realtor you are shutting out 95% of your potential buyers.
yes, you should pay a commission of 2.5% to 3%. non-negotiable. the buyers hire their realtor to protect their intrest when they enter into a DROA (contract). the DROA is full of language the buyers probably don't fully understand so they need a realtor to spell it out for them. their realtor will also make sure the inspections get done, appraisal, survey, financing, termite inspections etc. the buyers leave all that good stuff to their realtor to manage. and guess what, the seller pays for their services even though they act on the buyers behalf. it sucks but that's how this is done. on the bright side, when you go out a buy again, expect the seller to pay your realtors commissions.
Call a variety of local realtors or to the board of realtors and explain the situation. You might have the fee paid by the buyer, since you weren't using one yourself. How are you going to take care of all the legalities? Also speak to a title company to see what needs to be taken care of if you don't use a realtor. Have some knowledge before you meet with them.