BUYER REPRESENTATION AGREEMENT
You may have read or heard about the recent changes in the real estate industry covering nation-wide and California residential transactions. Here is a summary of how these changes affect home buyers and sellers.
1. All buyers ARE REQUIRED to sign a Buyer Representation Agreement before touring a home with an agent. The agreement includes the following:
a. The agent's fiduciary responsibilities to the buyer.
b. The services the agent will provide.
c. The fee or commission to be paid to the agent/broker upon close of escrow. (The amount of commission/fee to be negotiated and agreed upon by the buyer and the agent).
d. Length of agreement is 3 months, with the option to renew or cancel.
2. Commission offered by the seller or seller's agent to pay the buyer's broker are NO LONGER PERMITTED to be posted in the multiple listing service (MLS).
3. Listing agents ARE PERMITTED to post offers to pay commission by the seller, or seller's broker on their website, in an open house, or on marketing materials such as a listing flyer/brochure.
Buyer's agent can contact the listing agent prior to showing a property and ask them what amount of commission or compensation the seller may be willing to pay.
Seller Concessions:
A seller may agree to pay concessions to the buyer. Seller can agree to credit the buyer through escrow for the following concessions:
- Financial costs
- Improvement costs
- Buyer Broker fee/commission
- Other costs such as repairs
How are commission/fee and concessions negotiated?
When the buyer writes an offer to purchase a property, the type and the amount of concession the buyer requests the seller to pay will be listed in the purchase contract. All the terms of the purchase contract are then negotiated between the buyer and seller, through their agents, in the form of counter offers. Once the buyer and seller reach agreement on price and terms, the escrow process begins.
Who can pay the buyer/broker compensation: The seller, seller's agent, the buyer or a combination of all three.
If you would like to learn more about the process of purchasing a home, receive a detailed explanation of, or review the new contracts required, we would welcome the opportunity to meet with you and discuss all of your real estate goals.
When we sell you a home, we treat it like our own!
Give us a call, or send an email:
949-395-7475
LMVojak@gmail.com