BiggerPockets

who the hell did you meet?

pay him up front?

first of all - if he's a buyers agent - meaning he will represent you, the buyer exclusively - the selling agent pays his commission.

for every listing through a broker - there is an automatic split - for instance, at X real estate brokerage - they have a minimum that they'll take, say 3%...then when the get a listing, they'll take a 5% comission, offering 2% to agents bringing a buyer.

forget this guy you met. do not give him any money whatsoever.

the most you should have to do is sign a buyer agency agreement - which is an agreement between you (the buyer) and the broker...

most brokers have sales agents who get listings/clients...clients are considered sellers or buyers that sign exclusive agreements with a brokerage. this is a contract which brokers use to assure they get paid.

signing a buyer agency agreement is in your best interest because the agent then works for you and owes honest and fair dealing to the seller...but he/she works for you, on your behalf.

you see - you've got to understand how realtor's do business. this guy sounds like a schmuck. move on.

I've never heard of a retainer fee. I'm somewhat ignorant of NYC real estate (it is its own little world there), however that sounds scandalous to me!

If someone approached me with that pitch, I'd go find another agent really quickly and then report the guy.

This has sparked my interest so I made some calls to the NYC Board of Realtors, NY State Board of Realtors, and National Association of Realtors, and the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs. People at each of these agencies said that it did not sound like it was legal, however no one could confirm it for me (bureaucracy at its finest!)

I'd file a greivance with the local board of realtors against the guy, if it happened to me.

I know plenty of Buyers Agents who have their clients sign a contract which states a minimum fee for their service. Some do it by a percentage, and others do it buy a minimum dollar amount. If the listing agent's co-operating fee does not meet the minimum, the buyer is responsible for the difference. It isn't all that uncommon, and it make sense if you think about it this way. A true Buyer's Agent who is negotiating in the buyer's best interest is in fact negotiating their own fee down. Say the list price is 200k and the agent gets the price down to 180k. If the fee was 2%, they just reduced their fee from $4000 to $3600. How many people do you know that are paid less for doing a better job?

As for the up front fee, I've never heard of it and would never pay it. Tell him you'll sign a buyer agency contract which will guarantee you'll go though him for a specific amount of time, but do not pay anything up front.

noobdog1 says it all pretty well. there are plenty of shady practices going on in NYC brokerages... loopholes and such to fleece dollars from RE prospects, " application fees" should be closely examined before paying them. there are scams with " applications" that usually result to nothing other than just someone collecting your money.