… that was listed by the owner on Kijiji, at a reduced price, indicating they’d be listing it in the future with an agent, but bumping the asking price up to compensate for the fees.
Procrastinated, but had every intention of calling. Left a message yesterday afternoon indicating interest, asking to see the place. Got a call back - he had been with a listing agent when I called, signing on as a customer. He’s asking what the impact is of the agent, and would have preferred dealing with me directly (only went with the agent due to a time constraint on selling the place).
Now - theoretically, my message was left before he signed (I think), or at least around the same time. Assuming there isn’t anything specific in the contract stating that any and all offers he had ahd on the place now must go through the agent, Is he bound to the agent if I plan on offering? The agent did absolutely nothing to get my business (and, of course, I’m the one who pays…). The ad and driving by got me interested. I had intended on calling earlier, as well, but kept putting it off.
Not sure if there’s any differences in US and Canada real estate/contract laws/customs as far as this goes, but I’d appreciate some opinions, no matter what the source ;).
In the US, generally if you’ve listed a house with a real estate agent, they’re guaranteed their commission even if the ultimate buyer comes directly to the seller (as you’re talking about doing). This would be for the duration of the listing contract - typically 3 months or so.
After the listing period, they can sell it and not own the agent any commission. HOWEVER, if the person they sell to was met through the realtor, then the commission would still be due. That’s to prevent the seller from telling the buyer “pssst. Wait a couple of weeks and I’ll save us both some money”.
In other words, the commission comes out of the gross price. If you make an offer on the house, that is the price you are going to pay. It won’t be offer price + commission fee.
ETA: (This wasn’t directed at Munch. I’m just piggybacking off his comments.)
No, but it could be ‘price - commission fee’ if an agent isn’t involved.
That’s what I did with my last house; I got valuations done, someone came to me interested so I showed them the valuations, then knocked 1.5% off the average as I wouldn’t need to bear the cost of commission.
We were both happy - as far as I was concerned I was going to end up with about the same amount of money either way - the buyer got a discount on the actual sale price.
That’s true, early in the process. A lot of buyers, especially in this market, will take a significantly lower price than asking if the house has been on the market a while.