I wonder if he is a deep discounter. We have a few brokers here in the Dallas area that will put a house on the MLS for a flat fee of $495.00 but they will not do anything else. They direct all phone calls etc. to the seller. They make their money (small as it may be) on the the front end whether the house sells or not. They do get lots of listings but I have noticed they get a higher than normal number of cancellations, expired listings, etc. Like I said though, they got their $495 on the front end so they don't really care.

Sorry to hear you had such trouble Gloria.  Stories like that one are what pushed me over the top to get my license back in 2003 and it was a good move for me.  Have to wonder if he really has that many listings or just has a heavy ego or something.

If you want to buy a place in central Ohio I will go and take as many photos as you want!! :)  Whatever it takes.  Maybe you can pick up a license in that "other state" and pick up where he is obviously dropping the ball.  Hope that you find "the one" - you might try to call the broker direct, think I would.  Best wishes.

Maybe the agent expected the buyer's agent from out of state to do something for the 3% the buyer's agent wanted.  Not being licensed in the state, you should of asked for a small referral, instead of all buyer's agent portion.  I wonder how this conversation would be if the shoe was on the other foot.  Did you put an offer in on the house?  Or was it just about the commission?

Gloria,

If any buyer walked up to you and said I'm interested in your listing, but I want the 3% buyer side, would you be happy to work with the buyer?  I doubt it.  Just because you have a license from another state doesn't allow you work in that state and be compensated.  You would never send a referral to that agent and ask for a 3% referral.  I think perhaps you should take a look at both sides of the equation.  You may have gotten even a better deal and purchased the property, if you had allowed the agent to be both the selling agent and the listing agent.

What's nice about this forum, is it allow each of us agents to express our opinions, our founding fathers had the right idea about freedom of speech and expression.

Have a nice real estate day, Gloria.

Dennis

Hello Gloria,

I have to disagree with Dennis, the guy is a jerk.  Most agents here in Columbus go way out of their way to accomodate sales and particularly other agents.  

You were honest enough to let him know that you wanted to represent yourselves and what you expected from him.  Good Luck

Columbus Ga Realtor

The 3% could be paid to a Managing Broker and then paid to you by your company But the way you presented it is against the rules in some states ,In this state we cannot do rebates . The property disclosure there is no excuse for that ,ask that his broker present the offer. He is way to busy to conduct business in a professional manner,50 listings must be nice hope he makes time to sell a few

Gloria,

In no way did I imply that you didn't think that this is a free country.  What I was trying to say was that even if we don't agree, this forum and country gives us the opportunity to disagree.  When I post something I want people to give me their honest opinions, we all can learn by listening to others.  I continue to learn and listen to all of you.  I just disagree with you on this one.

Dennis

I support the right of any buyer, including another agent, to request 3% seller concession toward closing cost.  No harm, no foul!

As seller agent, I would gladly reduce commission to 3% if there were no buyer agent to pay.  No harm no foul!

I understand why he does not want to go take more photos, but I don't excuse his actual refusal to do it with over a one week lead time.  I was taught that the definition of a PROFESSIONAL is "somebody who does the right thing whether they want to or not".  

As a self representing agent in a deal like this, I would tell the listing agent I want the disclosures, expected them by noon tomorrow, or I would be calling his broker for them.

Good luck with this purchase!

Hi Gloria :)

Well just for the hay of it I would get your GA referral form fill it out as your the buyer ask for 3% of the buyers side commissions and walla your in like Flynn.

Or I only will guess this home is in Florida and if that is the case as you know I will be happy to help you and write the contract from right here in GA for you, then the sellers agent won't have any problems with anything...

Just e mail me or call me Gloria :)

Oh do you know anybody looking to buy a Bank?

Have a look on my front page you can not miss it, it would be great for like check cashing etc...

http://www.GeorgiaPeachRealEstate.com

Hey Gumba, I wanna buy that bank! But I want you to have the seller contribute the money and security cameras toward my closing costs! LOL, just kidding . . . this post does raise some interesting questions.

I would have contacted the broker as soon as the SPDS (disclosure) did not arrive timely. Might also have mentioned to the broker that if their agent can't handle 50 listings, perhaps they should not carry 50 listings.

IMO, and I'm sure this will be unpopular:

I have purchased many properties as a principal and not once have I ever asked the listing agent for a referral fee or co broke. In or out of Arizona where I am a licensed broker.

My opinion is that the agent deserves to be paid well for taking REALLY REALLY good care of me. Which will include helping me get the deal I want.

I would rather not work with the listing agent for this reason. YMMV.

Miss Gumbaness !! :)

The funny thing about all of this I did exactly what Gloria wants to do but in reverse  I was in Florida and had to purchase a home in Georgia.

Regardless that I am license here also, now get this !! the Re/Max agency told there salesperson I can not have the 3% of the sellers side!! I am serious now.....

Well guess what I got the full 3% and the agent was a part time fireman which is ok by me...

In Gloria case she has every right to ask for the 3% wow does that go? everything is negotiable thingy..ha ha

In this market I would give out hugs to get any home sold as the sellers agent and go on to the next case.

As Gloria may already know if that home in Florida she does not have to ask the selling agent for anything, I will give her the lions share of it, after all what did I do but to help her, she may have someone who needs to buy bank ha ha

Funny thing about that bank was me and another agent after I took the photos, I had an idea I pretended to the other agent that I was holding up the Bank and I wanted to even pass a note ha ha,,, lets face it, that was a once in a lifetime opportunity to play bank robber!! in a bank... Yea Haw..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdVEM5WMDo0

Gumba, I would pay you a bonus for being my real estate watchdog! :)

I should clarify that I have no problem with anyone including my agents asking for compensation on their purchase as a principal or a referral fee.

I just haven't personally.

As far as paying it out, whatever it takes . . .

Miss Gumbaness

Lets sell that bank then, you can rest you will get a wonderful referral!

You Can Bank On It ha ha

I will make you a deal you Can't Refuse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuNQIdKrb1g  :)

LOL LOL LOL LOL! Classic!

That is a cool looking little bank  . . . you want I should get Don Bundy to call in some favors? Anyone need kneecaps broken besides Gloria's lazy agent? LOL

Gloria's lazy agent, from what I can see will be 3% lighter !!! :)

Gloria:

As you may be already aware of who ever is going to fill out a Florida purchase agreement has to be license in Florida in order to prepare the offer and there are other forms that have to accompany the purchase agreement.

Please email me ok or call either way ok :)

Gloria:

Paper from GA is just as legal as paper from FL.  

They cannot stipulate that you write the offer on FL paper.  

You might as well use what you know.  Let them figure it out.

Just phrase the offer so you get 3% toward closing costs and offer 3% less than you otherwise would.  Explain it in the cover letter that you  took the other 3% off because he won't have a buyer agent to pay.

That should work unless you wanted cash to put toward the deal : )

Reading all the advice here I am very uneasy with some of the comments.  I am licensed in the state of California.  But if I go to AZ can I represent myself using CA paperwork?  Would I even want to?  Well maybe that was not a good example.  As CA and AZ have very similar rules.  But I am not a AZ broker nor do I know all the rules and regs for that state.  I would never presume what was good in CA should be good enough for AZ.  Take Vance's offer.  Don't mess up a deal following GA guidelines.  And don't cut your nose off to spite your face if that house is the ONE.  We have to deal with personalities we may not like everyday.  No difference if we are the client or if we are representing the client.  

Good luck Gloria with your house hunting.  

Jana

I'm with Candice... call the broker for heavens sakes.  Why go through all the tit for tat kind of stuff and make it more uncomfortable for the seller?  And wouldn't you like co-operation through out the whole transaction?   Call the broker, explain what is going on and have him fax you the disclosure and get you the pics.  Makes more sense to me to have the courtesy to let the broker know one of his sales associates isn't up to par on a sale.    And by the way...it's not up to the sales associate if he kicks any of the commission back or gives you a discount...it's the broker's decision.  Did you get a referral form signed by the broker?

Ok Gloria here is my recommendation to help you get your home.

From what I remember ?? Michela who is your broker owner of Solid Source also has a broker that is active in the state of Florida.

I would have that broker write the FAR-9 form and associated forms that go with it, show Gloria as the home buyer and grab the co-op 3% offered

from the listing broker, done deal without any further complications.

Pay the transaction fee to your broker in GA and live happily ever after.

The real estate laws between both states are as far apart as any two states can be, and a GAR form is over the top, just getting a real estate licence in FL is no small feat...

Here is just one, No Termite inspection clearance letter required in FL !!

Georgia is a deed to secure debt.. bla bla..

I hope it all work out for you Gloria :)

Vancepinion

I think it's out of line calling Dennis a jerk.

When you purchase real estate in a state in which you are not licensed, you are no different than any other buyer. When you have clients moving out of state, do you recommend they call listing agents and ask for them to reduce their commission by 3% since there will not be a second agent involved? Then maybe all buyers should just contact listing agents, ask for disclosures before even looking at houses, demand the listing agents cut their commission in half because they are "serious" buyers who will buy "something" and don't want representation. We could have ALL buyers unrepresented just like we did before we had buyer agency. But even in those days, we didn't cut our commissions in half because we sold our own listings. Just like we don't today when either acting as a duel agent or seller's agent (this is in Michigan- all states don't treat agency the same). We also didn't (and don't today) let the unrepresented buyer present their own offers.

To be honest, the above scenario wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit since I'm currently carrying 97 listings. I would LOVE it if all buyers only worked with listing agents AND chose to be unrepresented :)

And if I, too, am a jerk for agreeing with Dennis- then so be it.

Well there are no jerks here its all called competition in the New marketplace.

http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/real_estate/index.htm

Gloria is just a home buyer asking for, well a discount, rebate whatever anyone calls it, I personally would ask for one myself if I was buying a home.

If the listing agent has a problem with it then I would apply my statement that I would write the contract for Gloria.

I personally think that the listing agent has a problem with a unrepresented buyer and wants nothing to do with getting photos, presenting the disclosure etc , if there was a license FL  buyers agent in this deal it would be a whole different story and the listing agent would  comply.

There will always be Another home for Gloria to buy ! that's for sure. :)

I will be that Shoe on the other foot for for Gloria and help her buy her home. because I can........

Jackie, I agree with 100%. I like to look in the mirror first when confronted with a problem. It's nice Vance wants to help a fellow agent save money. And, I love the support network here on P2A. But.....

Well, that's my two cents and imho, etc., etc., etc.

I agree with you, Jackie.

If anyone brought me an offer on other than our forms, I'd send them back where they came from. ... or perhaps I'd be nice to them and gave them our contract to use. But noway I'd look at an offer on other than our contract. As a matter of fact, we are required to use the commonly used contract here ... whatever's used by your board is what you use.

As to the commission ... it would never occur to me to ask for the buyer's commission (in whatever form). While I do have a license, that doesn't mean I know the local laws and I'm pretty sure the listing agent would still have to do at least a tiny bit of work on my behalf. So I'd say asking for a referral fee would be fair.

And as to the "jerk" word sneaking in up above, I actually think it's pretty funny how it came up in that sentence :-).

If I was Gloria and wanted to get a 3% buyer's fee, I would refer myself to the listing agent with this fee being covered. I believe that, if she wants to get a commission, and she's the buyer, she should get it. Even if it's through a referral type of situation.

Becky, I give a 25% referral fee at closing. I don't bring buyers to FSBO for a 3% commission and I cut the commission in half for other agents. They can write their own ticket, then they should write it.