Yes, REALTOR® get paid on commission, but the amount in commission change for let’s say, $5,000-$10,000 in purchase price, is quite minimal.
Meaning, it is in our best interest to negotiate the best price for our customers.
Let’s focus on buyers for this topic. A buyer purchasing a $500,000 home, will really appreciate getting it for $490,000. As a buyer’s agent, my job is to get them the property at the lowest price, with the most favorable sales terms. It will make a happy client (most important) with only a minimal difference in my commission.
I was helping out a friend of mine’s family, who had to sell the grandmother’s condo, which was in a 55+ community. This was not something I was doing for the money, but to help his family.
We had it listed at $79,000 and an agent who worked the community a lot, kept showing it to different buyers.
I always call for feedback on my listings, so when she didn’t answer, I texted. Here is how the conversation went.
ME: Thanks for showing the condo again. Did they like it?
HER: What is the best price
ME: Call me (she didn’t)
ME: I think I can get them to $69k/$70k (the sellers had told me they would take $67,900, so I wanted to try for a bit more)
HER: If I can get 72 can I get a selling bonus which we sometimes do here at <community name>
ME: What kind of bonus are you looking for?
HER: We sometimes offer a 1000 but that’s is I get the higher price if u can get more we can split so let’s say I can get 73 They might offer a bonus I don’t want u to ask if it makes u uncomfortable
ME: These are actually friends of mine. Put it at $73k with a $1000 selling bonus to you. I will push it
HER: Ok r u sure it won’t make u uncomfortable
ME: Totally fine! Happy to be of help 🙂
That conversation blew me away. I was laughing with my sellers about it. I would be LIVID to find out I paid more money (even if it was $1000 more) on a purchase because my REALTOR® negotiated more money for themselves, that wasn’t being offered with the listing.
Sure, sometimes sellers do offer bonuses to REALTORS®. However, that bonus was already offered in the listing by the seller.
But for a REALTOR® to ask for more money, where their buyer is really the one paying for it, is bad form in my book.