p.s. I find it odd that Inman asks for Realtors to take time to do survey (the source of the report) for free and then Inamn turns around to those same Realtors and attempts to charge them a ridiculous amount to view the reults of this survery (even subscribers) C’mon Inman! Pehraps someone will publish it online (Digg, ActiveRain, Raincityguide, etc.)–wouldn’t that be nice.

Where are you and are you a cash buyer or financing the sale. Lender requires a lot of “stuff” if you are financing.

Same here. I am a Realtor in Austin and work the fee with Buyers exactly as stated. The Buyer Rep Agreement determines my compensation, not the MLS Listing. It is the buyer who might choose to penalize that listing (due to a lower Seller contribution toward my fee), not me.

It is therefore Buyer behavior, not Realtors, who create pressure toward maintaining a narrow range of Buyer Agent Commissions being offered in MLS listings.

Ironically, it is also the Discount Brokers who promise Buyer commission rebates from the buyer agent commission that stoke this buyer behavior. If a buyer agent were, for example, to say he will charge 1.5% and rebate to the buyer 1.5%, the buyer immediately banks that money mentally toward closing costs, and will still penalize the lower commission listing because they see it as money out of their pocket.

In the commission debate, what’s good for Sellers is not good for Buyers. Since most of us are both, at one time or another, there can be no permenant giving away from one side of the deal to the other.

Steve

Sounds like a good reason why we don’t want attorneys ruling the marketplace I had no idea buyer agency was still stuck in the dark ages back there. I started “back there” (So. Jersey/Bucks County, PA) during subagency in 1990 and was already doing buyer agency before I left in 1996. I totally “get” how your system functions, as it sounds exactly the same way as it did ten years ago! South Jersey and Bucks County did not and still does not, North Jersey and New York have always been “different” and binder based due to the attoney involvement. South Jersey had a hybrid of the two.

I clearly expected more to happen in ten years with regard to change.

I find it amusing that discussion has come to the idea that the seller is paying the commissions, so everyone is essentially working for the seller. Maybe it’s just a Western concept, but here a buyer’s agent had better be representing the buyer in every way possible. And, by the way, who is really shelling out the money? The buyer, of course. Greg Swann addresses just this issue in today’s article of the Arizona Republic.