You know, what makes you look like a total cheat? Going straight to the listing agent, asking them if they could write the offer for you.
When you're shopping for a house without an agent and you find the one, don’t go up to the listing agent and you say, “Hey, I really like this house. I want to write an offer, but I don't have an agent.”
Most agents would be okay representing both sides, but I must tell you when it's a hot property and there are 10 offers; if a person comes up to me like that, it makes me feel gross. It makes me feel like they don't value the service. When someone comes up to me and says, “I don't have an agent, I want you to write the offer for me.” What they're basically telling me is that they don't want to pay retail. That's right. It's not that they don't love the house, but they think that if they go straight to the listing agent, that somehow there's going to be a discount in commission that benefits them.
If there is an agreement between the seller and the listing brokerage to discount the commission, if the listing agent procures, the buyer that discount benefits the seller, not you.
So, for example if there are 10 offers and your offer that you're having the listing agent write for you is the top offer and it comes down to let's just say, it's a $2 million house. You offer $2 million and somebody else offers $2 million. Obviously, your offer is going to prevail. But I have to say nine times out of 10, that buyer that comes direct is not willing to pay top dollar.
What happens is they end up telling them, look is this going to take? Here's the offer. You're going to have to come up to $2 million and they go, oh, “Well, uh, I thought like the discount could help with that.” No, it doesn't help with that. And then my assumption ends up getting proven, correct again.
Buyers that are coming direct, asking for the listing agents to write an offer for you, are cheap. They don't want to pay full price, they’re not willing to pay to play, but that's just my 2 cents.
Agree or disagree, if you have any questions or you want to start a conversation, let’s talk.
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