Am I obligated to pay buyer commission?

Question

I have a buyer that came to me directly that wants to buy my house. After I showed the house to them twice they showed up with realtor and looked a third time. The wrote an offer with a buying agent commission. Am I obligated to pay that commission since I showed the house to the buy the first two times without an agent?

Account Closed · Answer

No you are not. It's negotiable. The buyer will often pay the buyer's agent fee. You apparently have no contract with an agent (not listed in the MLS for instance) so you are not obligated. You can simply tell them you are not using an agent and won't be paying an agent's fees. That's all. Let them take care of how they want to deal with it.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

@Rich Mills you are required to pay the commission, but you are not required to accept the offer. I would just counter offer at a few thousand more to cover the cost of the agent. Don't get hung up on who is getting paid. Just look at the net proceeds from the sale and make sure the number works for you.

Lydia S. · Answer

@Rich Mills

Since you have a listing agreement with your Realtor, the commission you have agreed to includes what amount your Realtor will share with a buyer’s Realtor (the 2.5% you mentioned).

If there’s no buyer’s Realtor, your listing agent gets the full amount.

You’re not paying extra by letting the buyers have a Realtor representing them.

Russell Brazil · Answer

If the property is in the MLS with the offered commission, then any buyer who has an agent has been offered that commission.

Ned Carey · Answer

@Rich Mills You have to pay the commission in the agreement you have with your agent. You always only pay your agent. Your agent then pays the buyers agent. The buyers agent gets paid by your agent not you.

If you agreement with your agent has a different commission rate if there is a buyers agent, then that is between you and your agent to dispute.

As @Joe Splitrock says, the contract can change all of that. You get to decide if you sign the offer or not.

Rich Mills · Answer

Thanks for the replies however, I do have an agent which I signed and agreement with that does state I will pay a 2.5% commission to the buyers agent. What I have heard is since the buyer didn't find and show the house on first contact that I am not required to pay their agent. At the second showing the said they didn't have an agent but wanted to buy the house. The even offered me 5k to hold the house.

Joe Norman · Answer

Since you don't have a listing agreement with a brokerage (which would specify the buyer's agent commission) you are under no obligation to pay it - its completely negotiable just like every other term in the offer.

Whether you should or not depends on the rest of the offer, IMO.

Am I obligated to pay buyer commission?

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