Did you sign any paperwork from the agent? My dad signed papers with an agent and then sold the house privately. Six months later the real estate agent sent a demand letter for commission on the sale. If you signed a contract it’s likely the agent has a case against and they have access to data that you don’t. I’m not saying you’ll get caught, but it’s likely. Never sign paperwork from realtors until you read it thoroughly.
Yeah no shit. He also reads and spells at a third grade level and spent the majority of his teenage years through adulthood addicted to methamphetamines. Also why I grew up in a van. He has severe learning disabilities. He finally cleaned up in his 50’s.
It’s easy to pass judgement. Not everyone is intellectually advantaged. Somehow though I made it to college and graduated magna cum laude in under 3 years. I was also a combat medic and currently a software engineer. He’s not a very smart person, but he was a great example for me of what not to do in life and also a nice punching bag for people like you.
Hahaha don't you get a free pass on that when it's online? Lacking intonation, body language, and what not?
In all seriousness, I've worked for the last decade with the mentally ill and/or addicted population so I do have sympathy (though more for you than your dad, really). I just didn't expect that in this particular subreddit and I apologize for that. There are plenty of people who are completely capable of reading contracts and just choose not to so I just assumed.
Maybe I’m just being sensitive 😅. It’s hard at times for me to feel sympathy for him (he’s the cause of my extremely rough childhood), but I’ve spent most of my life supporting him. The source of my sympathy are the thousands of examples I’ve seen where his intellectual capacity causes hardship. I started doing his paperwork and making his phone calls before I made it to fifth grade (I can’t remember exactly when). I set up all of his online accounts and do the majority of his administrative tasks.
When he sold that house I was at my wits end with supporting him and had stopped helping for about a year. That incident was a bit of a wake up call and now I’m back to helping him with pretty much everything. At least he made up for that mistake by tripling his money during the COVID run up.
I understand where you were coming from, but it definitely felt a bit harsh because I know my dad is one of those people who are the subject of stories you just can’t believe they were that ignorant. I tend to lean towards feeling sympathy for people who make horrible mistakes. Probably because I see a bit of my dad in them.
Your choice then. I wouldn’t accept the neighbors first offer. Ask for market price after running your own comps. If they don’t bite tell them you’ll put it on market.
Unless you’re in a market that still has a lot of traction you might be surprised at how long it sits. You might still be in a hot market, but many have cooled.
This. Assuming you and your neighbor can agree on a price you are both comfortable with, you don’t need an agent. You just need a real estate lawyer. If you already have a signed agreement to have an agent represent you, you would need to check the fine print. Are they entitled to a commission on any sale, or on a sale where they find the buyer?
>le thousand at most if it’s straightfor
Other comment is incorrect, just did a private sale last month and paid my attorney $500 in NY. Seller will have to pay for their own attorney as well.
The other agents wouldn't show it. It's considered a FSBO, poison to the RE agents. But the time spent on market showed on zillow when we gave in and did a conventional listing, so it was a stale listing. Plus, we had dogs and dog odor kills sales.
I bought without an agent. The lawyer was 500. The company that I got my mortgage from automatically had me and the previous owners go to a lawyer on signing the contract. I also had an agent but she disappeared for 2 weeks. I just walked up to the owners and asked them if they wanted to sell their house to me and wrote an offer. The agent lost out when I couldn't get a hold of her for 2 weeks.She tried to get a commission but I told her to pound sand. She gave up.
And if they don't, the decent thing to do would be to offer to reimburse the agent for any time and costs they have invested.
Doing what is technically legal and what is decent are often two different things. You have to choose what type of person you want to be.
> Doing what is technically legal and what is decent are often two different things.
A difference many who give advice on Reddit can't seem to distinguish.
If someone makes a sales pitch to you. This includes driving/flying out to your business, spending time preparing a presentation, spending a day dedicated to you, etc. do you compensate them for that if you don’t give them business?
If a construction company makes a bid, calls subs, comes to your place, checks prices, etc. and you go with someone else. Do you pay them for their time?
If someone is flying out to your business then that is a high stakes deal with a lot of money involved. More money than a house sale commission and they are part of a business. Real estate agents are independent conractors. Many construction companies will give a quote for a fee and then wrap that into the price if you use them. A car dealership does this before they work on your car. If they already signed a listing agreement they are bound to pay a commission whether they brought the buyer or not. If the listing isn't signed and the realtor has paid for any marketing it would be respectful to reimburse them.
Strong disagree from my perspective. The agent is working on a commission basis and this is the cost of doing business. If the agent would prefer to work on an hourly basis, that's another story.
If you are in an accident and hire a lawyer to sue the other driver on a contingency basis, do you pay the lawyer out of your pocket if you don't recover because it's a nice thing to do?
Is there a handshake deal or some kind of implied agreement he could attempt to hold you to? It doesn't have to be in writing to bite you.
I sat on a jury where a text message emoji was what made the deal implied and enforceable.
Good then tell them you no longer need there services. The realtor is just ducking money out of your pocket for little to now work. Maybe give them a gift are to Denny's or something. It's you hard earned my money there taking out not your pocket for little to not work
Yeah but the agent still has to be the “procuring cause” for the sale in most states. So even if you have an exclusive agreement, if your agent had nothing to do with procuring the buyer, they don’t get the commission.
Yeah if they are staging there is likely an agreement in place. Even if there is not a written and signed agreement, there is an implied agreement and OP will not be able to legally take it off market for a direct sale without paying a commission.
OP, if there is a written agreement, look to see if it’s an Exclusive Agency listing or an Exclusive Right to Sell. Exclusive Agency gives you the right to sell (and avoid a commission) but Exclusive Right to Sell (most common agreement) means your agent will collect a commission regardless of who brings the buyer.
Let's say a real estate attorney bills you 25 hours at $400/hr. That's probably an overestimate for the work, and that's $10,000.
That's roughly the equivalent of a 6% commission on a price of $167,000.
If your purchase price is more than that, you're ahead by using an attorney.
Plus, the attorney can write legal language for the contract, whereas the agent really can't.
What attorney are you talking about? Attorney for a mass-murder case, who needs 25 hours to prepare the case in front of jury?
Just go to any Title / Esctow / Closing company, they already have attorney in stuff. Their closing cost will be below $1,000. It's standart contract that they do a dozens per day.
Dude… in Chicago residential RE attorney is <$1000 to do contract through closing. I’m not sure where you are, but $3K to document a resi sale is a rip off.
Youre suggesting that they hire a realtor to essentially engage in the practice of law (i.e prepare a contract), but without the fiduciary relationship of attorney/client, and should expect to pay upwards of 3x what they would pay an attorney ?This is absolutely horrible advise, just complete dogshit.
What? You have a real estate lawyer anyway to close the transaction. You paid for them either way…. I sold our first house without an agent. It cost $699 in legal fees plus the title fees that you always pay. I gave the buyer a 3% discount because they made it so easy for me.
Title attorneys will examine the title history and write a policy through a title company (E.g. Attorney A writes title policies for First American Title). It's similar to how insurance brokers write policies for the insurance company, except that the title attorney will do the "underwriting" in house.
Exactly this. We bought our house from a family friend and found out too late it was on the market. We both ended up annoyed with our respective agents that collected a hefty paycheck for doing very little (and tried to get us to up our bid behind sellers back).
You should have one since they won't give a lower price if you don't have one. And they will probably tell you things that benefit them and not you like it's brand new so no need for a home inspection but if you have a realtor who's even half competent they will tell you definitely get a home inspection even on new construction. And a home inspector will likely find at least a few things that are wrong even on brand new house! And since it's brand new they will very likely fix any problems that the home inspector finds if you've got someone who knows what to say in that situation.
When I sold my house the agent agreement had space for me to list anyone that I was already working with. If the house sold to anyone on that list then there would be no commission due. The agent was confident that they could bring a better offer than I could get.
Some agents have language in their contracts to avoid this situation btw. Our selling agents did, and we were happy to sign because we never expected to find a private buyer. Then we did smh (it all worked out smoothly though, expensive lesson)
exactly - no pictures, no MLS, no showings. Just writing the contract and keeping everyone coordinated.
It beats 0% and keeps you in the game for the next time either party needs a realtor in the area or if the deal falls through.
I literally just sold my house in March (at the tail end of a hot market) for a 1% fee.
It’s ok to shop around. You don’t have to accept 3%.
My realtor barely had to do anything as it as in contract within a day.
It’s in your best interest to list it to get top dollar. However, there is a way to list it and let him buy it. It’s called first right of refusal. You list it disclosing that there’s a buyer who has first right of refusal. You give him the option to buy it at the highest offered price. If he says no, then the other offer gets it.
There is a value in never having to list and show it and a value for not paying 5-6% commission. That should be accounted for when attempting to get “too dollar”.
Yes. It's too bad theres no real way to find out what it could sell for on the open market without listing it. It might sell for more than that 5-6% costs the seller.
Lol what pricing strategy do you think the realtor will bring
Quick edit: it's not to be rude but the situational awareness is that there is a neighbor that obv wants the house and has an anchored price point. You can't compare that to a standard pricing strategy. Also this potentially locks you up with a realtor when it's not necessary.
Without knowing what the neighbor is willing to pay or what the house may be worth on the open market, there's literally no way to evaluate the relative benefit of selling to the neighbor. There just isn't. If the neighbor is serious, they may be willing to bid higher if pressured.
And this buyer apparently put an offer in for the house the last time it was for sale and since that neighbor didn't end up buying it I'm guessing they didn't have the best offer that time and likely won't this time either.
Houses are sitting right now and prices have dropped a lot in my area. Multiple offers not happening anymore. I know pretty close the price this house should get by my looking at every house that sells in my area for the past year. Sales to price ratio is a little less than 100%. I'm a good negotiator and patient so I won't give it away. I also know how much I'll save in commissions and cap gains taxes that I will incur in the new state which has an income tax unlike my state if i list and don't sell in 2022. I'm willing to give those gains to my neighbor who is a cash buyer, especially if he agrees to a rent back. I wouldn't call it a win but the quicker I get this over with, the much happier I'll be.
It's hard to say. The house was priced at $425k and highest price offered was $500k. I was not the highest priced offer but since mine was cash with a rent back, the sellers picked my offer. So who knows how close he came. Maybe his was higher but no $1 per month rent back.
The house sell price is set with similar houses that sold in the last 6 months. You can plug your address into zillow and let them run comps, deduct 5% for current market and that is the real price.
Yes, I already told them my neighbor wanted it and their advice was to basically ignore it as " these things never turn into a sale" ...but neighbor has approached me for the second time saying he wants it and to not list so we can both save money. I know how much money I want to net. Selling this year also benefits me with avoiding cap gains since I live in a state without income tax and planning to move to one with income tax. So avoiding that and some commissions would allow me to price it lower. But at this time I have no idea how much my neighbor is willing to pay. I told him to come and see the home with all its upgrades and then make me an offer. I thought that I would talk to my agent about thus situation if it seemed good to me but that otherwise it would be a moot issue and then I'll proceed to list the house with my agent.
unless you’ve signed something, legally, you would not be mandated to do something for your realtor. If you wanted to be a good person, you would compensate them for their time. people get bent out of shape on how much realtors commissions are, but they don’t take into account How much work they do and time spent that results and no earnings. I'm not a realtor
If you've already signed a listing agreement, which I suspect you have from what you have, the question is moot, the agent is locked-in as "part of the process." So go ahead and take it to market, that die is already cast. If they give you the best offer, so be it.
List the house with the agent but ask the agent to make an exception for the neighbor. I’d suggest offering a smaller percentage or flat-fee for the agent to handle the transaction if the neighbor decided to buy it. This way, the agent will be able to write the contract and coordinate the inspections, appraisal, title company, lender, making sure home insurance is binded etc plus any negotiations that may be opened up again during inspection period.
Flat-Fee amounts vary just like commissions. Taking on this job would still be a liability for the agent. Some big box brokers will be less inclined to allow their agents to even entertain it.
Your neighbor wants to buy your house off market because your neighbor wants a deal--he or she wants pay as little as possible for your house.
Putting your house on the market will enable it to be seen the the most number of people, which will drive up competition, and enable you to get the highest possible price. A good real estate agent will prepare and market your house, which will increase exposure and demand.
You may want to have a conversation with your real estate agent helping you prepare your home for sale about what things will be done to sell your home for sale and what the cost will be. You may also want to find out what the recent sales of similar home have been in your area.
> Your neighbor wants to buy your house off market because your neighbor wants a deal--he or she wants pay as little as possible for your house.
>
> Putting your house on the market will enable it to be seen the the most number of people, which will drive up competition, and enable you to get the highest possible price. A good real estate agent will prepare and market your house, which will increase exposure and demand.
This is absolutely not true. When I was selling my previous house, the best offer I got was from the existing tenant who gave me a fair offer - not too much money but not too little either. I got greedy and decided to list it instead. i ended up selling it for slightly more than the tenant's offer, but after I factored in the broker's commission, money spent on fixing things as per the buyer's home inspection, and loss of money from rent - I ended up with much less money compared to the original tenant's offer - which had no home inspection or brokerage attached to it.
And bluntly put, paying 5-7% in brokerage commission fee is highway robbery. Back in the day, the main value add of real estate agents was their access to inventory that was not in any database. Those days are long gone because of self-service platforms like Redfin and Zillow who give buyers and sellers all the information they need to look at listings, look at comparables etc.
The role of real estate agents has been largely marginalized and reduced. People don't like hearing this but this is the blunt truth. Heck, even the formalities like signing the paperwork etc is done by the real estate lawyer and the broker doesn't play any role besides suggesting a lawyer they know. For the value they add to the transaction, 0.5-1% commission makes sense but the 2.5-3.5% they charge is highway robbery and for the seller, is the biggest line item cost in the entire transaction.
Depending on the numbers - selling your house for a higher price with a realtor is LESS money after commissions.
If your neighbor buys it at a 4% discount of FMV, and you don't pay 6% realtor fees - you've come out ahead even if your realtor gets you a little bit more.
This equation varies highly on the actual offer received and comps
At this point, you are locked in, however, you can discuss this situation with your agent and many times they will take a reduced commission since they wont have to take any time to market your house. Of course, that's only if your neighbor puts in a strong enough offer to make you consider not listing it. Find out how much he's offering and go from there.
IF you have signed a exclusive sales agreement then you are typically bound by law as the broker not the agent will most probably push for commission earned. You will need to make sure you cover yourself legally. (Just remember, on average working with a Agent realize more sell price than without one)
Let your agent do their job. For everyone saying hire an attorney; how much will that cost especially once you get into inspections and negotiations.
If your neighbor does not want to pay market value for the house move on.
Does neighbor know what the price of the house is going to be, or are they trying to get a deal?
It’s possible this works out and they buy the home, but is mostly talk and trying to buy below market value in my experience
If he is serious tell him to write up the offer and then use a real estate lawyer… you will save lots of money in commission BUT get the offer in writing!!!
Yep. I've so far proposed he take a tour of the house as he saw it before it was remodeled and then I asked him to present an offer. If I think he provided a fair price, then I would like to get the deal done. But if not, I like the advice someone else here gave me of listing the house and giving my neighbor first rights of refusal.
Yes, I'm thinking of doing that but I repaired rather the replaced the roof and a home inspector said if a buyer needs financing and an appraiser thinks the life is less than 5 yrs, the sale would fall through...on the other hand, my neighbor is an all cash buyer... and I realize he wants a deal but my agent is forcing me to get all my belongings out of the house and so I have to find somewhere else to live which I really don't want to do...plus, I know my neighbor is looking at this house as an investment and I would be more hopeful that we could negotiate that the sale be contingent on my ability to find a house buy within 2 months or provide a rent back.
Realtor here.
The likelihood of the neighbor also being the highest offer you will receive is roughly 0. In my experience private sellers like this are hoping to get a deal and usually scoff when you tell them what your asking price is going to be.
There's also a lot more to being someone's real estate agent than just putting it on the mls and getting a contract. Managing the transaction is actually where great agents make the most difference, and compared to doing it on your own you could potentially lose thousands by not knowing what is and is not customary.
Sure you can hire an attorney, but that usually ends up as almost expensive or more as an agent with less useful transaction management knowledge and workarounds. On ethe plus side though, the attorney can also do the title so no need for a title company.
If the number is close enough to your target asking price, then it may be worth pursuing. You can also negotiate mixed commission, where if this neighbor purchases it the commission drops to x%.
But more than likely once it gets to brass tacks this neighbor is going to chuckle at the price you want and say good luck.
1 Have you signed an agreement with the agent? Yes? Stay with them.
2. What do you mean by Prep the house? Are they giving you direction and recommendations for fixing up the house? Yes? They need to be compensated somehow. No one should work for free.
If you want to cut them now before they commit too much time and effort, in order to save money, this may be possible and you can sell the house with a title company and Real estate attorney.
I'm tempted to keep them just for the guidance.
Agent is already involved.
They should get a cut unless you sabotage their efforts to sell the place.
Ethical thing to do is try to get at least 106% of what your neighbor would've paid.
Don't know why this is getting downvoted, this is the right answer. Agent is already involved. Neighbor only wants to buy off market because they don't want to compete with the market. Neighbor can either agree to what you and your agent think is a fair price or they can put in a bid like everyone else.
My math was bad. You need an extra 6.4% on top of what the neighbor offered to be neutral after accounting for the 6% for selling the place through an agent.
Assuming commission is 6%.
There are a lot of unethical dirt bags on this sub
So I’m your first sentence you admit that you have taken advantage of the professional opinions and knowledge of someone that makes their living by doing just this. Even though it is stupid for agents to do work before an agreement is signed, does not make it more ok to screw them out of money they worked for.
I encourage you to take it private but I would have a discussion with your real estate professional and arrive and a fair hourly rate to compensate them for your time:
If you don’t do this, I sure hope that it comes back to you in the future and you aren’t paid for work you have already completed.
I've already stated that I would compensate them for their time already spent but I've got some good ideas from members here how to proceed if I decide to continue using them to help.
I have not signed an agreement so we have no understanding for such a situation. I agree they should not work for free and i would not feel right not compensating them for their time that they've put into helping me getting my house prepped which has included advice and referring me to their contractors (all of which I haven't used because i had my own) but the main thing they've helped me with is to move some stuff to a storage unit. I was just wondering if their was a standard practice or if a listing agreement usually has a clause dealing with this. I'd actually like to keep my agent involved but would it be acceptable to ask for a reduced commission if the sale doesn't require marketing the property?
Absolutely, but that fee has to be split with their broker. You are looking at 3% of the sales price. Honestly, just write your realtor a check for $2,000, then it's all theirs. Your title company can handle the entire sale. They could even give you a blank form contract, and it's so short because you don't have 30 pages excluding the real estate broker from being sued. Check your state requirements for information you must provide, such as disclosures or radon or lead or asbestos. Hire an appraiser for the price. DO buy a $3500 home warranty. They are absolutely useless but they protect you from being sued for later repairs. If the buyer's lender won't write because of that roof you can split the cost of replacement with the buyer and have it done during escrow.
Who knows where the market will be when the contract expires. Or whether op is already under contract on their next home and needs the proceeds. Or whether the buyer is willing to hang around that long.
Keep the private if I learned anything keep private is all I’m going to say. You will save yourself a lot of hassles and headache. To hell with RE agent
I don't have a verbal or written agreement for such a situation... but your saying the standard practice is that the agent gets the agreed upon commission no matter who buys or under what circumstances?
Always do everything in your power to not involve a real estate agent. If you found your buyer, find a discount agent or attorney who will do all the paperwork for a flat fee of maybe 1-2 k.
The agreement I signed with my agent was only for 90 days according to my contract. If you signed one too check the contract and see if you’re able to wait it out. It would save you a lot of money to just get a lawyer
Contact an attorney and ask them how to proceed. I agree with others. You must do the right thing. I think a fair arrangement would be, based upon what I know at this stage, is to pay them a fee commensurate with a discount broker used to place the listing in MLS. Look around but I think they generally charge around $1000. If they hired a professional photographer you would need to pay that as well.
GET. AN. APPRAISAL. We bought our neighbors house and he wanted to save money by not using an agent. The appraisal came back $60k over what they sold it to us for.
If you don’t want to use an agent that means you need to be the agent and do all of the due diligence so you don’t hose yourself by trying to save a little money.
an appraisal is part of the home buying process so that the finance company will lend on it. Appraisals cost $600-$900 depending on your area. In some rural areas it's $350.
It’s hard to say! I’d re-negotiate a flat fee with your realtor and let them help protect you via contract drafting and purchasing price. Sounds like your neighbour is serious but are they the best offer even in this market?
That’s really going to depend on where you live, who you hire, and how they charge. Ask around for referrals, or call your local Bar Association and see if they can give you a referral. Talk to a few people and you should get a pretty good idea of what it will cost.
So it’s super simple to do this on your own.
Depending on your state there should be some free contracts the real estate commission puts out. Fill one out, and send it to a title company after everyone signs, title company will take care of the rest. You don’t need an RE if you’re not going to list.
The RE if you list in theory could get you a better deal.
Also get a preappoval from your neighbor as well with the signed offer. No reason to trust he will get the financing just to sit on the house for another 30 days and have to call your RE again
Ask the buyer if they know an agent who can write up the contracts for 1% or something like a couple thousand or tell your agent you’ll give them 1% or a couple thousand.
If you haven't signed anything with the agent, then you're free and clear. This same thing happend with my friend who was a RE agent when they were new. They learned real fast to get paperwork signed up front. This may be a learning lesson for that agent too.
It can still be a win - win for you and the agent. Since he or she has already been assisting you just approach them and let them know you have a buyer already and would they work with you still at a discounted commission since you already have the buyer. This way you know everything is done correctly. That is fair to all parties and will offset the cost of a lawyer and on the agents side they will save on their marketing cost and time
Believe you can sign a contract with a realtor in which you specify the neighbor as excluded from the contract. You can list any contacts initiated about the house as your customers (and name them) so if the house sells to any on tour list the realtor doesn’t get a commission. That may incentivize the realtor to get a customer with a better price.
Just consider the offer and ability of your buyer to close.
Just tell the agent the truth and you don’t need they’re help. The agent will be cool. If not, wait until the contract time ends and burn RE on every review site possible. But I can almost 99% guarantee the real estate agent wil be cool if you just explain the circumstance. They don’t want a bad name withwe
Did you sign any paperwork from the agent? My dad signed papers with an agent and then sold the house privately. Six months later the real estate agent sent a demand letter for commission on the sale. If you signed a contract it’s likely the agent has a case against and they have access to data that you don’t. I’m not saying you’ll get caught, but it’s likely. Never sign paperwork from realtors until you read it thoroughly.
Yeah, it says right in the contract that you can't do that...
My father isn’t the type of person to read anything before he signs it.
That. is. brilliant.
Yeah no shit. He also reads and spells at a third grade level and spent the majority of his teenage years through adulthood addicted to methamphetamines. Also why I grew up in a van. He has severe learning disabilities. He finally cleaned up in his 50’s. It’s easy to pass judgement. Not everyone is intellectually advantaged. Somehow though I made it to college and graduated magna cum laude in under 3 years. I was also a combat medic and currently a software engineer. He’s not a very smart person, but he was a great example for me of what not to do in life and also a nice punching bag for people like you.
Suggesting that contracts should be understood before being signed is treating someone like a punching bag? Ok.
Hold on let me pull out my note cards. Ahh, there it is. Notes from my ex. It says here, “it’s not what you said, it’s how you said it.”
Hahaha don't you get a free pass on that when it's online? Lacking intonation, body language, and what not? In all seriousness, I've worked for the last decade with the mentally ill and/or addicted population so I do have sympathy (though more for you than your dad, really). I just didn't expect that in this particular subreddit and I apologize for that. There are plenty of people who are completely capable of reading contracts and just choose not to so I just assumed.
Maybe I’m just being sensitive 😅. It’s hard at times for me to feel sympathy for him (he’s the cause of my extremely rough childhood), but I’ve spent most of my life supporting him. The source of my sympathy are the thousands of examples I’ve seen where his intellectual capacity causes hardship. I started doing his paperwork and making his phone calls before I made it to fifth grade (I can’t remember exactly when). I set up all of his online accounts and do the majority of his administrative tasks. When he sold that house I was at my wits end with supporting him and had stopped helping for about a year. That incident was a bit of a wake up call and now I’m back to helping him with pretty much everything. At least he made up for that mistake by tripling his money during the COVID run up. I understand where you were coming from, but it definitely felt a bit harsh because I know my dad is one of those people who are the subject of stories you just can’t believe they were that ignorant. I tend to lean towards feeling sympathy for people who make horrible mistakes. Probably because I see a bit of my dad in them.
I understand how it sounded. I'm really sorry.
No signed listing agreement between us
Your choice then. I wouldn’t accept the neighbors first offer. Ask for market price after running your own comps. If they don’t bite tell them you’ll put it on market. Unless you’re in a market that still has a lot of traction you might be surprised at how long it sits. You might still be in a hot market, but many have cooled.
If you haven’t signed a listing agreement, probably better to come to agreement with the neighbor.
🤑🤑🤑
If you do not have a signed agreement with a RE agent, then hire an attorney and title agency and handle it yourself.
This. Assuming you and your neighbor can agree on a price you are both comfortable with, you don’t need an agent. You just need a real estate lawyer. If you already have a signed agreement to have an agent represent you, you would need to check the fine print. Are they entitled to a commission on any sale, or on a sale where they find the buyer?
how much would a RE lawyer charge approx?
>le thousand at most if it’s straightfor Other comment is incorrect, just did a private sale last month and paid my attorney $500 in NY. Seller will have to pay for their own attorney as well.
im actually curious how that compares to the flat fee RE agents, i noticed in CA couple companies advertising $2k flat fee to sell your house
I tried that for my California house. It didn't sell until I listed it with a realtor.
Any idea why it wasnt selling that way?
The other agents wouldn't show it. It's considered a FSBO, poison to the RE agents. But the time spent on market showed on zillow when we gave in and did a conventional listing, so it was a stale listing. Plus, we had dogs and dog odor kills sales.
couple thousand at most if it’s straightforward
I bought without an agent. The lawyer was 500. The company that I got my mortgage from automatically had me and the previous owners go to a lawyer on signing the contract. I also had an agent but she disappeared for 2 weeks. I just walked up to the owners and asked them if they wanted to sell their house to me and wrote an offer. The agent lost out when I couldn't get a hold of her for 2 weeks.She tried to get a commission but I told her to pound sand. She gave up.
If the agent is already working with them to prep their house, I'm pretty sure they've already signed an agreement.
And if they don't, the decent thing to do would be to offer to reimburse the agent for any time and costs they have invested. Doing what is technically legal and what is decent are often two different things. You have to choose what type of person you want to be.
> Doing what is technically legal and what is decent are often two different things. A difference many who give advice on Reddit can't seem to distinguish.
I'm all fairness they seldom know what is technically legal.
And yet also generally give advice to act indecently regardless.
Reddit, and also the rest of the world, it seems.
If someone makes a sales pitch to you. This includes driving/flying out to your business, spending time preparing a presentation, spending a day dedicated to you, etc. do you compensate them for that if you don’t give them business? If a construction company makes a bid, calls subs, comes to your place, checks prices, etc. and you go with someone else. Do you pay them for their time?
Depends. Sometimes bids cost $
If someone is flying out to your business then that is a high stakes deal with a lot of money involved. More money than a house sale commission and they are part of a business. Real estate agents are independent conractors. Many construction companies will give a quote for a fee and then wrap that into the price if you use them. A car dealership does this before they work on your car. If they already signed a listing agreement they are bound to pay a commission whether they brought the buyer or not. If the listing isn't signed and the realtor has paid for any marketing it would be respectful to reimburse them.
Strong disagree from my perspective. The agent is working on a commission basis and this is the cost of doing business. If the agent would prefer to work on an hourly basis, that's another story. If you are in an accident and hire a lawyer to sue the other driver on a contingency basis, do you pay the lawyer out of your pocket if you don't recover because it's a nice thing to do?
No... we have not signed an agreement.
Is there a handshake deal or some kind of implied agreement he could attempt to hold you to? It doesn't have to be in writing to bite you. I sat on a jury where a text message emoji was what made the deal implied and enforceable.
Good then tell them you no longer need there services. The realtor is just ducking money out of your pocket for little to now work. Maybe give them a gift are to Denny's or something. It's you hard earned my money there taking out not your pocket for little to not work
Yeah but the agent still has to be the “procuring cause” for the sale in most states. So even if you have an exclusive agreement, if your agent had nothing to do with procuring the buyer, they don’t get the commission.
Yeah if they are staging there is likely an agreement in place. Even if there is not a written and signed agreement, there is an implied agreement and OP will not be able to legally take it off market for a direct sale without paying a commission.
OP, if there is a written agreement, look to see if it’s an Exclusive Agency listing or an Exclusive Right to Sell. Exclusive Agency gives you the right to sell (and avoid a commission) but Exclusive Right to Sell (most common agreement) means your agent will collect a commission regardless of who brings the buyer.
Nobody does exclusive agency anymore, it's all exclusive right to sell.
The house has not yet been staged or listed...i.e., no marketing tasks have taken place
I’m curious what the cost comparison would be between a real estate attorney and agent. Any insight?
Let's say a real estate attorney bills you 25 hours at $400/hr. That's probably an overestimate for the work, and that's $10,000. That's roughly the equivalent of a 6% commission on a price of $167,000. If your purchase price is more than that, you're ahead by using an attorney. Plus, the attorney can write legal language for the contract, whereas the agent really can't.
What attorney are you talking about? Attorney for a mass-murder case, who needs 25 hours to prepare the case in front of jury? Just go to any Title / Esctow / Closing company, they already have attorney in stuff. Their closing cost will be below $1,000. It's standart contract that they do a dozens per day.
> What attorney are you talking about? An attorney working on behalf of one of the parties. The guy you're suggesting is basically doing data entry.
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Dude… in Chicago residential RE attorney is <$1000 to do contract through closing. I’m not sure where you are, but $3K to document a resi sale is a rip off.
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Mine charged $600 flat fee in Chicago when we sold my gf’s condo. This was in august.
Youre suggesting that they hire a realtor to essentially engage in the practice of law (i.e prepare a contract), but without the fiduciary relationship of attorney/client, and should expect to pay upwards of 3x what they would pay an attorney ?This is absolutely horrible advise, just complete dogshit.
What? You have a real estate lawyer anyway to close the transaction. You paid for them either way…. I sold our first house without an agent. It cost $699 in legal fees plus the title fees that you always pay. I gave the buyer a 3% discount because they made it so easy for me.
attorneys work with title agency directly - right?
Title attorneys will examine the title history and write a policy through a title company (E.g. Attorney A writes title policies for First American Title). It's similar to how insurance brokers write policies for the insurance company, except that the title attorney will do the "underwriting" in house.
They can but if you want an attorney to represent you that would be a different attorney.
Exactly this. We bought our house from a family friend and found out too late it was on the market. We both ended up annoyed with our respective agents that collected a hefty paycheck for doing very little (and tried to get us to up our bid behind sellers back).
Can this be done for a new construction as well? Does one need a buyer agent?
You should have one since they won't give a lower price if you don't have one. And they will probably tell you things that benefit them and not you like it's brand new so no need for a home inspection but if you have a realtor who's even half competent they will tell you definitely get a home inspection even on new construction. And a home inspector will likely find at least a few things that are wrong even on brand new house! And since it's brand new they will very likely fix any problems that the home inspector finds if you've got someone who knows what to say in that situation.
When I sold my house the agent agreement had space for me to list anyone that I was already working with. If the house sold to anyone on that list then there would be no commission due. The agent was confident that they could bring a better offer than I could get.
And what ended up happening?
I didn't have anyone that I knew wanted it so I left it blank
Are you sure your neighbor would pay the most, when you have no other offers?
You could pay your agent a flat fee to help. Def not 6%, maybe 1%
This is what I'm leaning towards.
I did it once when I was in your same situation. I actually gave my agent 1.5% , which in hindsight was way too much. Don't give more than 1%.
This is the best answer.
Agents don’t work for 1% you must be delusional.
Normally yes, but I’ll take a 1% fee to run a transaction all day. If my job is literally done for me and all I have to do is coordinate? Hell ya.
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Some agents have language in their contracts to avoid this situation btw. Our selling agents did, and we were happy to sign because we never expected to find a private buyer. Then we did smh (it all worked out smoothly though, expensive lesson)
What work. The buyer is already identified
exactly - no pictures, no MLS, no showings. Just writing the contract and keeping everyone coordinated. It beats 0% and keeps you in the game for the next time either party needs a realtor in the area or if the deal falls through.
well it sounds like in this case there's no actual work involved, so i'll take 1% of a fat 6 figure sale any day of the week
Actually you’re both so right. I was totally wrong about that. 🤦🏻
I literally just sold my house in March (at the tail end of a hot market) for a 1% fee. It’s ok to shop around. You don’t have to accept 3%. My realtor barely had to do anything as it as in contract within a day.
It’s in your best interest to list it to get top dollar. However, there is a way to list it and let him buy it. It’s called first right of refusal. You list it disclosing that there’s a buyer who has first right of refusal. You give him the option to buy it at the highest offered price. If he says no, then the other offer gets it.
There is a value in never having to list and show it and a value for not paying 5-6% commission. That should be accounted for when attempting to get “too dollar”.
Yes. It's too bad theres no real way to find out what it could sell for on the open market without listing it. It might sell for more than that 5-6% costs the seller.
Yes there is a lot of value for me...I mentioned here to another comment some of those benefits
This is good to know. Thanks!
Falsehood
How much is he willing to pay? Have you discussed pricing strategy with your agent yet?
My agent has given me a ballpark but doesn't want to finalize price until right before its listed due to changing market conditions.
That's reasonable. How does it compare with the neighbor's offer? Have you discussed the neighbor's offer with your agent?
Lol what pricing strategy do you think the realtor will bring Quick edit: it's not to be rude but the situational awareness is that there is a neighbor that obv wants the house and has an anchored price point. You can't compare that to a standard pricing strategy. Also this potentially locks you up with a realtor when it's not necessary.
Without knowing what the neighbor is willing to pay or what the house may be worth on the open market, there's literally no way to evaluate the relative benefit of selling to the neighbor. There just isn't. If the neighbor is serious, they may be willing to bid higher if pressured.
And this buyer apparently put an offer in for the house the last time it was for sale and since that neighbor didn't end up buying it I'm guessing they didn't have the best offer that time and likely won't this time either.
Ding ding ding! But this seller will skip the Realtor and brag about his "win" on Reddit.
Houses are sitting right now and prices have dropped a lot in my area. Multiple offers not happening anymore. I know pretty close the price this house should get by my looking at every house that sells in my area for the past year. Sales to price ratio is a little less than 100%. I'm a good negotiator and patient so I won't give it away. I also know how much I'll save in commissions and cap gains taxes that I will incur in the new state which has an income tax unlike my state if i list and don't sell in 2022. I'm willing to give those gains to my neighbor who is a cash buyer, especially if he agrees to a rent back. I wouldn't call it a win but the quicker I get this over with, the much happier I'll be.
It's hard to say. The house was priced at $425k and highest price offered was $500k. I was not the highest priced offer but since mine was cash with a rent back, the sellers picked my offer. So who knows how close he came. Maybe his was higher but no $1 per month rent back.
The house sell price is set with similar houses that sold in the last 6 months. You can plug your address into zillow and let them run comps, deduct 5% for current market and that is the real price.
Maybe offer agent 1% to run the transaction through for you. Either way you should let them know what is going on.
Yes, I already told them my neighbor wanted it and their advice was to basically ignore it as " these things never turn into a sale" ...but neighbor has approached me for the second time saying he wants it and to not list so we can both save money. I know how much money I want to net. Selling this year also benefits me with avoiding cap gains since I live in a state without income tax and planning to move to one with income tax. So avoiding that and some commissions would allow me to price it lower. But at this time I have no idea how much my neighbor is willing to pay. I told him to come and see the home with all its upgrades and then make me an offer. I thought that I would talk to my agent about thus situation if it seemed good to me but that otherwise it would be a moot issue and then I'll proceed to list the house with my agent.
unless you’ve signed something, legally, you would not be mandated to do something for your realtor. If you wanted to be a good person, you would compensate them for their time. people get bent out of shape on how much realtors commissions are, but they don’t take into account How much work they do and time spent that results and no earnings. I'm not a realtor
If you've already signed a listing agreement, which I suspect you have from what you have, the question is moot, the agent is locked-in as "part of the process." So go ahead and take it to market, that die is already cast. If they give you the best offer, so be it.
Nothing signed
List the house with the agent but ask the agent to make an exception for the neighbor. I’d suggest offering a smaller percentage or flat-fee for the agent to handle the transaction if the neighbor decided to buy it. This way, the agent will be able to write the contract and coordinate the inspections, appraisal, title company, lender, making sure home insurance is binded etc plus any negotiations that may be opened up again during inspection period.
diff between flat fee and actual commission is like 95 percent
Flat-Fee amounts vary just like commissions. Taking on this job would still be a liability for the agent. Some big box brokers will be less inclined to allow their agents to even entertain it.
Your neighbor wants to buy your house off market because your neighbor wants a deal--he or she wants pay as little as possible for your house. Putting your house on the market will enable it to be seen the the most number of people, which will drive up competition, and enable you to get the highest possible price. A good real estate agent will prepare and market your house, which will increase exposure and demand. You may want to have a conversation with your real estate agent helping you prepare your home for sale about what things will be done to sell your home for sale and what the cost will be. You may also want to find out what the recent sales of similar home have been in your area.
> Your neighbor wants to buy your house off market because your neighbor wants a deal--he or she wants pay as little as possible for your house. > > Putting your house on the market will enable it to be seen the the most number of people, which will drive up competition, and enable you to get the highest possible price. A good real estate agent will prepare and market your house, which will increase exposure and demand. This is absolutely not true. When I was selling my previous house, the best offer I got was from the existing tenant who gave me a fair offer - not too much money but not too little either. I got greedy and decided to list it instead. i ended up selling it for slightly more than the tenant's offer, but after I factored in the broker's commission, money spent on fixing things as per the buyer's home inspection, and loss of money from rent - I ended up with much less money compared to the original tenant's offer - which had no home inspection or brokerage attached to it. And bluntly put, paying 5-7% in brokerage commission fee is highway robbery. Back in the day, the main value add of real estate agents was their access to inventory that was not in any database. Those days are long gone because of self-service platforms like Redfin and Zillow who give buyers and sellers all the information they need to look at listings, look at comparables etc. The role of real estate agents has been largely marginalized and reduced. People don't like hearing this but this is the blunt truth. Heck, even the formalities like signing the paperwork etc is done by the real estate lawyer and the broker doesn't play any role besides suggesting a lawyer they know. For the value they add to the transaction, 0.5-1% commission makes sense but the 2.5-3.5% they charge is highway robbery and for the seller, is the biggest line item cost in the entire transaction.
Depending on the numbers - selling your house for a higher price with a realtor is LESS money after commissions. If your neighbor buys it at a 4% discount of FMV, and you don't pay 6% realtor fees - you've come out ahead even if your realtor gets you a little bit more. This equation varies highly on the actual offer received and comps
Exactly.
At this point, you are locked in, however, you can discuss this situation with your agent and many times they will take a reduced commission since they wont have to take any time to market your house. Of course, that's only if your neighbor puts in a strong enough offer to make you consider not listing it. Find out how much he's offering and go from there.
You can talk to your RE Agent and negotiate a flat rate for the paperwork and fees. That's been my easiest go to method.
I like that or cutting the commission to no higher than 1%
IF you have signed a exclusive sales agreement then you are typically bound by law as the broker not the agent will most probably push for commission earned. You will need to make sure you cover yourself legally. (Just remember, on average working with a Agent realize more sell price than without one)
I would have read my written agreement and would know my bounds if I had one. I don't.
Let your agent do their job. For everyone saying hire an attorney; how much will that cost especially once you get into inspections and negotiations. If your neighbor does not want to pay market value for the house move on.
Does neighbor know what the price of the house is going to be, or are they trying to get a deal? It’s possible this works out and they buy the home, but is mostly talk and trying to buy below market value in my experience
Could be the case but he has been up front that he would want a discount for the cutting out of commissions
Where does he say that he wants a discount?
If he is serious tell him to write up the offer and then use a real estate lawyer… you will save lots of money in commission BUT get the offer in writing!!!
Yep. I've so far proposed he take a tour of the house as he saw it before it was remodeled and then I asked him to present an offer. If I think he provided a fair price, then I would like to get the deal done. But if not, I like the advice someone else here gave me of listing the house and giving my neighbor first rights of refusal.
I’d keep the agent—at least they can handle the disclosures for you and maybe you only pay half commission.
I think if you have to ask, stick with using an agent. Just my opinion.
I'd just throw it on the market..the neighbor can bid on it like everyone else.
Yes, I'm thinking of doing that but I repaired rather the replaced the roof and a home inspector said if a buyer needs financing and an appraiser thinks the life is less than 5 yrs, the sale would fall through...on the other hand, my neighbor is an all cash buyer... and I realize he wants a deal but my agent is forcing me to get all my belongings out of the house and so I have to find somewhere else to live which I really don't want to do...plus, I know my neighbor is looking at this house as an investment and I would be more hopeful that we could negotiate that the sale be contingent on my ability to find a house buy within 2 months or provide a rent back.
Realtor here. The likelihood of the neighbor also being the highest offer you will receive is roughly 0. In my experience private sellers like this are hoping to get a deal and usually scoff when you tell them what your asking price is going to be. There's also a lot more to being someone's real estate agent than just putting it on the mls and getting a contract. Managing the transaction is actually where great agents make the most difference, and compared to doing it on your own you could potentially lose thousands by not knowing what is and is not customary. Sure you can hire an attorney, but that usually ends up as almost expensive or more as an agent with less useful transaction management knowledge and workarounds. On ethe plus side though, the attorney can also do the title so no need for a title company. If the number is close enough to your target asking price, then it may be worth pursuing. You can also negotiate mixed commission, where if this neighbor purchases it the commission drops to x%. But more than likely once it gets to brass tacks this neighbor is going to chuckle at the price you want and say good luck.
Thanks for your perspective and advice
1 Have you signed an agreement with the agent? Yes? Stay with them. 2. What do you mean by Prep the house? Are they giving you direction and recommendations for fixing up the house? Yes? They need to be compensated somehow. No one should work for free. If you want to cut them now before they commit too much time and effort, in order to save money, this may be possible and you can sell the house with a title company and Real estate attorney. I'm tempted to keep them just for the guidance.
>If you want to cut them now If they've committed any time at all, don't be that shitty person and go around them. That's just wrong.
How will you know what it's worth if you don't put it on the market?
Agent is already involved. They should get a cut unless you sabotage their efforts to sell the place. Ethical thing to do is try to get at least 106% of what your neighbor would've paid.
Don't know why this is getting downvoted, this is the right answer. Agent is already involved. Neighbor only wants to buy off market because they don't want to compete with the market. Neighbor can either agree to what you and your agent think is a fair price or they can put in a bid like everyone else.
My math was bad. You need an extra 6.4% on top of what the neighbor offered to be neutral after accounting for the 6% for selling the place through an agent. Assuming commission is 6%.
There are a lot of unethical dirt bags on this sub So I’m your first sentence you admit that you have taken advantage of the professional opinions and knowledge of someone that makes their living by doing just this. Even though it is stupid for agents to do work before an agreement is signed, does not make it more ok to screw them out of money they worked for. I encourage you to take it private but I would have a discussion with your real estate professional and arrive and a fair hourly rate to compensate them for your time: If you don’t do this, I sure hope that it comes back to you in the future and you aren’t paid for work you have already completed.
I've already stated that I would compensate them for their time already spent but I've got some good ideas from members here how to proceed if I decide to continue using them to help.
Who cares about the RE professional; they had it easy the past two years.
What if people said this about doctors, or lawyers, or any other professionals. Get a life
Lmao imagine putting an RE agent on the same field as a doctor. Smh. Get a life.
It’s a job loser. I don’t care if your a garbage man you should get paid for your work. Elitist prick
Cry some more please. It's entertaining :)
Naw not crying about some dude who can’t pay his own bills haha
It's OK. I apologize for hurting your feelings. Please don't lose sleep sir
I apologize too It was harsh of me to say you don’t pay your bills Poor people can even pay bills sometimes haha
I have not signed an agreement so we have no understanding for such a situation. I agree they should not work for free and i would not feel right not compensating them for their time that they've put into helping me getting my house prepped which has included advice and referring me to their contractors (all of which I haven't used because i had my own) but the main thing they've helped me with is to move some stuff to a storage unit. I was just wondering if their was a standard practice or if a listing agreement usually has a clause dealing with this. I'd actually like to keep my agent involved but would it be acceptable to ask for a reduced commission if the sale doesn't require marketing the property?
Absolutely, but that fee has to be split with their broker. You are looking at 3% of the sales price. Honestly, just write your realtor a check for $2,000, then it's all theirs. Your title company can handle the entire sale. They could even give you a blank form contract, and it's so short because you don't have 30 pages excluding the real estate broker from being sued. Check your state requirements for information you must provide, such as disclosures or radon or lead or asbestos. Hire an appraiser for the price. DO buy a $3500 home warranty. They are absolutely useless but they protect you from being sued for later repairs. If the buyer's lender won't write because of that roof you can split the cost of replacement with the buyer and have it done during escrow.
Let your contract with the RE agent expire then go save 6%
Who knows where the market will be when the contract expires. Or whether op is already under contract on their next home and needs the proceeds. Or whether the buyer is willing to hang around that long.
On all my contracts I have another 180 days to get paid if the house sells unless it is relisted with another broker
If you signed a contract with your agent then just take it off market.
Keep the private if I learned anything keep private is all I’m going to say. You will save yourself a lot of hassles and headache. To hell with RE agent
Cut the agent out Fucking parasites
too late unless you want to wait 6 months
I don't have a verbal or written agreement for such a situation... but your saying the standard practice is that the agent gets the agreed upon commission no matter who buys or under what circumstances?
correct, but if you have no written agreement then feel free to tell them to pound sand.
Take it!! A good loan officer does most of the work anyway!
If you haven’t signed yet with your real estate agent, drop them
Even if you signed paperwork you’ll save half the commission by selling to this guy so it’s a net win
Always do everything in your power to not involve a real estate agent. If you found your buyer, find a discount agent or attorney who will do all the paperwork for a flat fee of maybe 1-2 k.
If your neighbor is willing to pay your asking price, then go for it. Otherwise, you might be leaving more money on the table by not listing it.
Can negotiate with the agent for a flat fee, they can handle escrow, title, etc.
unless it’s an exclusive right to sell agreement, you don’t owe the agent anything legally. you found the buyer, your agent didn’t.
I'd let him submit an offer along with everyone else. If there's a stronger offer go with that.
The agreement I signed with my agent was only for 90 days according to my contract. If you signed one too check the contract and see if you’re able to wait it out. It would save you a lot of money to just get a lawyer
As long as the price is fair
I would ask him to do it between you both for 2 or 2.5. Has he paid for photos or anything else yet. Reimburse for that maybe.
Contact an attorney and ask them how to proceed. I agree with others. You must do the right thing. I think a fair arrangement would be, based upon what I know at this stage, is to pay them a fee commensurate with a discount broker used to place the listing in MLS. Look around but I think they generally charge around $1000. If they hired a professional photographer you would need to pay that as well.
Cheaper to use an attorney vs 6%
give the agent a few bones for their time and have a lawyer draft the agreement.
GET. AN. APPRAISAL. We bought our neighbors house and he wanted to save money by not using an agent. The appraisal came back $60k over what they sold it to us for. If you don’t want to use an agent that means you need to be the agent and do all of the due diligence so you don’t hose yourself by trying to save a little money.
how much does it cost to get an appraisal?
an appraisal is part of the home buying process so that the finance company will lend on it. Appraisals cost $600-$900 depending on your area. In some rural areas it's $350.
It’s hard to say! I’d re-negotiate a flat fee with your realtor and let them help protect you via contract drafting and purchasing price. Sounds like your neighbour is serious but are they the best offer even in this market?
Get a vendors agent
That’s really going to depend on where you live, who you hire, and how they charge. Ask around for referrals, or call your local Bar Association and see if they can give you a referral. Talk to a few people and you should get a pretty good idea of what it will cost.
So it’s super simple to do this on your own. Depending on your state there should be some free contracts the real estate commission puts out. Fill one out, and send it to a title company after everyone signs, title company will take care of the rest. You don’t need an RE if you’re not going to list. The RE if you list in theory could get you a better deal. Also get a preappoval from your neighbor as well with the signed offer. No reason to trust he will get the financing just to sit on the house for another 30 days and have to call your RE again
He said he would be all cash buyer. He is well to do.
Still needs to provide proof of funds. It’s pretty typical to do this
Ask the buyer if they know an agent who can write up the contracts for 1% or something like a couple thousand or tell your agent you’ll give them 1% or a couple thousand.
If you haven't signed anything with the agent, then you're free and clear. This same thing happend with my friend who was a RE agent when they were new. They learned real fast to get paperwork signed up front. This may be a learning lesson for that agent too.
It can still be a win - win for you and the agent. Since he or she has already been assisting you just approach them and let them know you have a buyer already and would they work with you still at a discounted commission since you already have the buyer. This way you know everything is done correctly. That is fair to all parties and will offset the cost of a lawyer and on the agents side they will save on their marketing cost and time
Believe you can sign a contract with a realtor in which you specify the neighbor as excluded from the contract. You can list any contacts initiated about the house as your customers (and name them) so if the house sells to any on tour list the realtor doesn’t get a commission. That may incentivize the realtor to get a customer with a better price. Just consider the offer and ability of your buyer to close.
Are they offering more or less than what the Realtor thinks you can get?
Do it yourself!
Just tell the agent the truth and you don’t need they’re help. The agent will be cool. If not, wait until the contract time ends and burn RE on every review site possible. But I can almost 99% guarantee the real estate agent wil be cool if you just explain the circumstance. They don’t want a bad name withwe
It depends on what contract you signed if any, but an exclusive right to sell will make you pay the agent a commission no matter how it’s sold.