So, I have been renting the last few years after a divorce but have begun looking around at houses. My current lease is not up until next August, but I intend to find something to buy between now and then. With my lease, I can basically pay two months worth of rent to get out of it early, if I need to. I was at an open house this weekend and the realtor there mentioned his firm does lease buy-outs for renters (after I explained my situation). Is this a common thing now? I do not intend to use a realtor based simply on incentives like this, but, all things being equal, not having to worry about paying off my lease sounds nice. Oh and I am in north Dallas, in case that matters.

Mortgage here. From my understanding The realtor can negotiate their 3% commission with the seller and rebate his buyer client any part of that they want. I just had a mom give her entire commission to her son, about 15K.

The realtor can market that transaction any way they wish. Hundreds of ways to dress that up.

They structure it to get around TREC's laws. In exchange for you using them to buy, they will pay off your lease buyout. They are not giving you any portion of the fee earned for representation. It is a cute little work around.

TREC does not have laws they have rules. Did these recently change? Just last week I had a realtor give my client 25% of his fee and we put on the final closing document which is a federal legal document. No dressing up needed

I split my commission with my clients all the time. My clients are almost exclusively good friends and family and "realtor-ing" isn't my primary job so I see it as a bonus for me and them. One of my clients even had their mortgage company mess up the HUD1 form (back when those existed), so they got my bonus and a nice bonus from the lender. I later heard the employee got fired. Sad day.

Thanks everyone. I obviously assumed that realtors were free to give back to their clients however they would like. Anyway, good to know.

Just remember that all money being rebated must be listed on the Closing Disclosure

Sounds like you have not yet settled on a Realtor. Would love the opportunity to speak with you at some point. I own Robinson Team Real Estate here in DFW and take a lot of pride in the job we do for our clients. I'm a sponsor of TexAgs, we were named to the Aggie 100 a couple of years ago, and I've had the honor of working with many good Aggies on these boards.

Feel free to reach out any time.

Cell 972-365-0432

Cody@MyRobinsonTeam.com

Gig'em!
Cody Robinson

Don't understand why you wouldn't use a realtor when you're buying a home. It's not costing you anything so why not get a second opinion for free and help facilitate the process.

Where did he say he was not going to use a realtor?

And yes it does cost him money. 3% to be exact.

How is it costing the buyer 3%?

Edit: very wrong emoticon. I blame Apple

easy. Two scenarios

1. Buyer sees house and uses realtor to make the offer and handle the transaction. Cost 3%.

2. Buyer sees house and calls listing agent offering 97% of final agreement. No realtor on the buyer side. Listing agent agrees to reduce commission from 6 to 3%. Seller nets the exact same proceeds either way.

3% saved.

If he is planning on using one I retract my statement but it just seemed from his post that he wasn't planning on it.

Steve,

If he has the right agent representing him, I'd tend to disagree with your argument that he'll save 3% without an agent. Consider the following questions...

1) Will he get the same deal on the home, or could an agent help to negotiate a better deal?

2) During the Option Period, will his agent help guide him through the process and negotiate repairs or allowances that save him more money?

3) Is it possible (even probable) that the listing agent keeps the 6% commission, and that the Seller would have sold at the 97% regardless of whether the buyer had an agent?


Just food for thought.

Cody no where did I state to not use a realtor. I always recommend using realtor service to my clients. They typically do not have the expertise to handle the the transaction alone. And if they do go alone guess who does 50% more work for free? Me

The statement that using a buyer agent is "free" is flat out wrong. I showed the poster the math to prove it.

Steve let's be real. Nothing in this world is free. However, there is usually more value on using a realtor than not. Especially when you are not coming out of pocket. I'm not a realtor btw.

But you posted 'it would cost nothing '. Now it's not nothing.

I've outlined a 3% cost to the buyer that is rarely noticed much less discussed. But it's real. It is an actual cost.

Again the vast majority of buyers, say 95%, should use a Realtor. And pay the 3%. They should also expect Cody type service and that's what they pay for

Free as they don't come out of pocket. But I agree with your reasoning as well and can see where that could happen. In a perfect world all realtors would be like Cody.

Disclaimer: Cody an I have referred multiple clients to each other.

Full disclosure and all that stuff.

flyingaggie12 said:

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If he is planning on using one I retract my statement but it just seemed from his post that he wasn't planning on it.

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Man, it's been a few days since I logged onto TexAgs and this thread blew up a little.

Anyway, yes, I will be using a realtor. I have no intention of buying a house without one. I guess my original post could be interpreted incorrectly. What I was trying to say was that I do not intend to CHOOSE a realtor based simply on incentives like this. Regardless, though, I will be using a realtor. I am still early in the process and have about 6 months to get it done. I was just wondering about my original question, that is all.

To the realtors who posted on the thread, I will hold onto your info and reach out when I get to that point.

Good luck with the process!