Episode 39 - Buyers Agent Compensation Part #2

Episode Overview:

• Podcast Name: If You List, You Last
• Host: Bob Mangold, The Listing Coach
• Episode Number: 39
• Topic: Upcoming changes to buyer's compensation and listing language
• Content: Second part of a training class for Bob's team

Key Points:

• Changes to Compensation:
  • Discussion on the imminent changes to buyer’s compensation and listing language.
  • Advice to consult with brokers and local MLS for specific guidelines.
• Training & Resources:
  • Links to documents and videos mentioned during the training provided in the podcast notes.
  • Encouragement to join the Real Estate Asset Advisor Facebook group for ongoing discussions.
• MLS & Legal Considerations:
  • Each MLS may have different rules—check with your local MLS.
  • Importance of transparency in real estate transactions.
  • Guidance on handling buyer broker agreements, especially under the new regulations.

Tips for Agents:

• Documentation: Ensure all agreements are in writing.
• Communication: Stay informed by attending events like NAR Town Halls or company meetings.
• Negotiation: Strategies for managing buyer concessions and listing competition.

Final Thoughts:

• Adaptation: Emphasis on the importance of being prepared for these changes.
• Education: Recommendation to thoroughly understand your state's guidelines and educate clients accordingly.

Call to Action:

• Facebook Group: Join the Real Estate Asset Advisor group for further discussion.
• Podcast Notes: Review the provided resources and documents.
• Broker/MLS Consultation: Always check with your broker and local MLS for the most accurate information.

Reminder: "If you list, you last."

Join our Facebook Group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/realestateassetadvisors

Visit our website to watch replays of our Wednesday "Elevate Business Briefings" at: www.RealEstateAssetAdvisors.org

Download a copy of my book, "If you list, you last!" at www.IfYouListYouLast.com

Transcript

OK, I hope these two podcasts have been helpful. Again be sure to check with your Broker and local MLS for guidance. 

We’ll talk to you next week and remember if you list you last!

Full transcription

 Hey, welcome fellow listing agents, Bob Mangold, the listing coach here with episode 39 of the If You List, You Last podcast. As always, thanks for listening, sharing, and downloading. This week, I'm going to share the second part of the training class that I held for my team on the upcoming changes to buyer's compensation and listing language.

And it takes effect this weekend. So I want to make sure that real estate agents at any company, any place, are prepared for it. And the most important message that I want to convey to you is to talk with your broker and your local MLS about your company, state, and MLS specifically. There are no standard or there's no industry standard forms that covers all states and all companies.

Now in the podcast notes section, I'll include links to the documents and videos I discussed in the training. Just a reminder, make sure you join our Real Estate Asset Advisor Facebook group so you can join in on the conversation, share your thoughts, comments, or questions on any of the topics I discuss right here on the podcast.

So let's get started.  So just understand these are just conversations that need to be done up front and I want you thinking about these things because when they occur, because they will occur,  that you're prepared and made a decision on what you would want to do. I know what I would do, But I'm not telling you because you have to determine what you want to do. 

You just need to understand it now.  Hey, Bob. Huh.  Do you know, will we be able, when we're trying to look up comps, are we going to have the ability to see if  a seller, for example, a home sold for 420, 000 but 20, 000 was seller concessions, is that going to be somewhere? Within the MLS so that when we're looking up comps we can compare that because  You can't have a seller say I want top dollar, but i'm not going to pay a buyer broker anything And top dollar is paying a buyer broker.

Do you know what i'm saying? I do and it's a hundred percent  Like a great question Unfortunately, my answer has to be it's going to depend on your MLS  When I say every MLS is making their own rules. That's not hyperbole. That's a fact  Bob, I can tell you the bright.  In the east here  will display concessions after closing  again reason my thought would be that you almost have to,  and if it closed, it doesn't matter.

You're not hurting any negotiation leverage or anything. I can't see where that happens, but it's up to the MLS.  And it's up to if lawyers go, Hey, that'd be a good reason for us to sue him, which I can't see that, but check with your MLS is the right answer.  So for Fred in bright, that's the answer.

It will be  Karen.  You're California. You're a different country.  Thanks. It's true. Oh yeah. I'm yes. I can't argue that point. I'm going to sit in on a Town Hall and NAR Town Hall this afternoon with our Gov Hutchinson from C. A. R. About this stuff as well, so I'm going to ask that question.

And guys, I would tell you, as many of those kind of events that happen, whether they're NAR, your company, your MLS, our company, other companies that let them in, a dozen, I don't know of anybody else who's doing that, but whatever, if they do, you need to get educated. And this one, Gov Hutchinson is our C.

A. R. legal guy.  Which is a big one. Yes, I want to hear what he has to say. And the other thing too, folks, I just put in the chat box the link to the page that you see on the screen right now,  which has all these forms.  Has some videos,  scripts.  It's helpful.  If you're listening to this on the podcast, it's down in the description in the podcast, because I'm going to put it in there.

As a company, we have made the decision to share this with every agent at every company. So you're more than welcome to take these, but  do not take them as, hey, this is the rule, or you work for, Bob's Independent Brokerage. And well, Bob told me that's how it works. If your broker didn't tell you and your MLS didn't tell you don't use our forms  If you bring our forms to your broker and they go damn those are good Let's use those cool do that  We know that's happening and we're encouraging it because they are  and there's a whole bunch of things here for overviews and things like that you can watch the video there.

Here are all the forms  Right forms and practices some of the scripts We've tried to take and put download to seller net sheet  Download a multiple offers review sheet guys. I don't know of any other company that's done this 

One of the conversations that I would have with a buyer  is, Hey, before we write an offer, I will find out if the seller's open to commiss concessions. If the agent will tell me,  and we'll prepare a net sheet that would show you  what the cost of this transaction would be to you, and then you can make the decision on how you'd like to proceed. 

So if they call up the listing agent, they go, yep, they'll pay up to 1%, and you got a buyer broker agreement at three. You're going to need to put that difference in there or you're going to do what we've done for decades folks You'll raise the price to cover the cost of that.  That's all  now You've got to be concerned whether it'll appreciate it or i'm sorry appraise or not But that's the way it is  And so at the end of the day this page Has a lot of great information on you or on here.

This is that video is talking about where Leo was talking with tom ferry  And so just different news Articles here  One of the things I will tell you guys, if you see this nonsense on social media about, Hey, we're not paying buyers agents. You need to go in there and stop it and say, it's bullshit. You're ignorant.

Chris Andrews, you're on here, right?  The reason I asked, I know he liked one of my comments on one of these posts today. Did it. Nope, he had to leave.  Anyway, I've seen a bunch of posts on there about Anonymous Participant. What's with EXP, not paying bar, broker coming? I'll never show an EXP house.

That damn MLM is  Like man, you're not even educated.  Those are the agents that will create headaches for us, folks.  So you can go to the exp seller toolkit site. All these forms are on there It should be in your sky slope also  And there's all kinds of q a and things like that you can go through  to do it  and get what you need  So, like I said, this is all  on this page, but it should be in your  sky slope.

Here's your single property So let's talk about that for a minute  the single property buyer broker agreement does what? You 

So it looks the same. What's it do?  Allows you to show one property. One property.  If they wanted to see one property today, one property tomorrow, another property the next day, you would have to fill out one of these.  I don't know why you would do that. 

Then you have your buyer  broker agreement. But remember, we have two types of buyer broker agreement. Exclusive and not exclusive.  What would a non exclusive buyer broker do? 

Anybody know?  It says I'm going to sign this with Karen but I could sign it with Robert and I could sign it with Jerry and I could sign one with Alexis and whoever's out gets paid. Whoever writes the winning offer gets paid. The others don't. Can I ask a question?  Why would we do that? 

I'm a waster.  I personally, again, I'm only giving you my opinion. I would never do that. 

I'm signing exclusive buyer broker agreements, period. 

But that's me. You can do whatever you want. The single property it's that's really meant for like that whole Zillow kind of thing, right? That's what you would use if you wanted to be a Zillow touring agent.  Guys, here's another question. And I know agents are doing it and whatever. If they need the money, they need the money.

But why would I go and show houses for seven days?  Have no loyalty and  Next week they go to a different one. 

Just your choice. It's not good or bad. It's not my opinion. It doesn't matter It's what each agent makes the decision how they want to run their business  Bob,  do leases fall under this as well?  I'm sure they do. I haven't asked that question specifically, but I'm sure it does. No, they don't. I, we've asked that.

Okay, but Fred, you can't make that comment though, can you? It does it in Virginia. They don't. And our broker.  In Virginia.  David's in Texas.  It may in Texas. I don't know the answer. So my real answer is ask your broker because what is true in Virginia is not true in Texas.  Could not be true in Texas, too.

That's all.  I'm not saying it's not. It was in the context of the open houses. And the 2 questions came up, it  doesn't matter.  Everything is state and MLS specific. What you heard for Virginia  could be different everywhere else.  That's true, but in this particular case. She asked about open houses.

And rentals being part of the settlement on a national basis. So you're right. Check with your broker.  Open houses don't need it and rentals don't need it, nor does commercial open houses. Definitely don't need it,  right? So here's the other thing as long as you brought up commercial fred. Yeah,  this is how commercial brokers have always worked  Like they're looking at the residential side going what the hell you people freaking out for this is how we do business  They think it's funny Cause this is how they've always done business. 

So I know we freak out on the residential side, but guys, it's not the end of the world other than  man, make sure your paperwork is right.  That's all. And if you don't know, go ask, don't assume. I think that's what it means. Don't do that. This is what I'm telling you. That's all.  I'm in Texas, and this morning Karen Richards gave a really good, she's the overall broker for Texas, gave a really good synopsis on how to accomplish this, and she stated that no,  the lease forms are not in this, but they would prefer that you go ahead and sign the buyer's Representation agreement for leases  Which is my point each state is going to be different guys. 

And the truth is it might just be that broker's requirement  to cover their butt because Remember rebecca, do you know how many agents we have in texas? I don't know anymore  a lot, right? It's 85 There's a lot imagine being the person that's responsible for the 8500 people And so the easiest way if I was a broker say just do it And if it wasn't required, but you did it and you were more transparent, we're all good.

So it could actually come down to even the broker's desire for how you do it because you're working under their license.  And if I was actually a broker, I would be doing the same thing.  Even if it wasn't necessarily a requirement or understand this guys, there are so many gray areas  in all this nonsense.

It's ridiculous. So again, if you listen to the Leo and Tom fairies. Conversation in there and Leo's the one who's been really Involved in this  you may have one clause in that settlement agreement  and a clause two down from it  Totally says something different  both clauses are in the contract which one wins  The answer is nobody knows 

so the best way to do it is to cover your butt and be as thorough as humanly possible And when you don't know, ask.  Bob, you said that people are looking to turn you in all the time. Is there an incentive? Why are they, you said we should all be working together, which I agree. So that we are successful both sides.

What's the angle for trying to bust everybody other than, from an NAR  side of things, they're trying to do audits and make money. through fines. Am I missing anything?  It's the money through the fines. Catch a hundred people. You just add at 2, 500 bucks a pop. You just add a quarter million dollars. 

I guarantee you come August 18th, they could catch a hundred agents without blinking an eye. 

It's a financial incentive.  They, where's that 450 million going to come from 

us? 

Now exists based on our dues and like this crazy stuff. Now, some of them, they own MLS is some of them. They don't,  but boy, if I was running an MLS and I'm just going to use Houston as an example, cause I actually think they're really good MLS.  So David, tell me if I'm wrong on this, but  do they have a financial incentive?

And I know they say, Hey, I'm protecting the consumer by doing this. And let's even say for a minute that it's coming from their heart and they're doing it to protect the consumer,  but they go and catch a hundred people at 2, 500 bucks. It was a quarter million dollars of their budget. Do they have a good reason to do it? 

Absolutely.  Hell, if I incentivize to maybe go hire a couple of extra employees,  Probably so  and catch it. California's actually employing AI to read every listing  in all the comments to see if they can find any way that you're trying to, either A, that you bring up compensation or b, that you come up with symbols and things like that.

So let's say, I don't know, through whatever real estate community is like, Hey, if I make the first three letters in the  comments. In bold, I'm paying 3%. If it's the first two, it's 2%. If they pick up on that,  you're toast.  So the real answer is just don't do stupid stuff like that. Just, it's just a function of explaining it to buyers and sellers.

And the process works the same, if you will, other than more paperwork and more explanation, which is transparency, which is part of what that lawsuit was supposed to help.  Did this actually help the buyers though? What do you think?  That's what it was. That's who was supposed to help. What do you guys think made it more confusing?

No it made it more confusing. But what else?  The answer is no, it did not help the seller expensive.  It's made it more expensive let me give you an example. How many guys have ever written a contract for a buyer? Let's say first time home buyer It's typically where it's at  and they needed I don't know four or five Points  to pay for closing costs any of you guys ever written a contract like that  Yep.

So now let's say your buyer needs four points for closing cost. So they can close the deal but you get three of the seller you get three on the seller concession  On a conventional loan you can only get six percent  So instead of being able to get four percent for the buyer you can only get three in addition to your compensation because that's a  Fannie Mae and freddie mac guideline 

Did that help a buyer? I don't think so  Va is limited to four now va did do something and i'll be honest with you. I didn't have time to check where they've done something to help the veterans where they can pay the compensation  But guys the limits on those seller concessions For lenders did not change.

If you eat up half of the seller concessions for compensation And somebody needed that additional help because we've all done it We've all put those deals together and it's helped the buyers You  They're at a disadvantage now, aren't they? 

So somebody has yet to explain to me how this is so damn advantageous for buyers. Now you have buyers that are going to be willing to give up  representation  that will go to listing agents that'll do that stuff and not get compensated or lower their commission to do it, but not be represented right.

And not go in and be able to negotiate a deal because they're dual agents.  Did the buyer  really, and when it's dual agency, does the buyer or seller win in dual agency?  The answer is no, the realtor really doesn't because boy, did you accept a lot of liability?  So those are decisions you have to make now.

But in my opinion, this didn't do anything to help the buyer. Didn't do anything to help the seller.  Now sellers go, I don't have to do that. You're right, but you also don't have to have buyers. Cause well, last time I checked, you're not marketing every day to find buyers. That's what we do.  And other agents have a lot of buyers.

And if we say hey, we're not willing to compensate the agent. We're happy to take your offer  But we will not participate with your agent  Let's be honest guys The majority of people are going to the majority of buyers are going to say no i'm not doing that now you cut down the competition for your listing you sellers lose in the long run, too  Because they won't have as much competition for their listings,  but we can talk all day long about how we think this is a bad thing.

What's the only thing we have to understand 

it's here, right? It's here.  And there's nothing we're going to do about it, except  make sure we do our job. And we get educated  and I do believe that's the opportunity  that's out there because I believe many agents will not educate themselves. I believe many agents will go, Oh hell, I'm not doing it this way.

I've been doing it this way forever. Cool. Let them do that.  Eventually, you'll have less competition because of it.  So I actually think it's a good thing. Hey, it forces you to have these conversations with buyers. It forces you to have these conversations with sellers. They might be a little uncomfortable until you understand what the value you bring to the relationship is. 

And for the Home Boss members, nothing we do changes.  You can call it a seller concession. Now, the only thing just use the same kind of language we had in there. We're going to offer this, to the buyer's agent and la, and it's going to show up that way. And you're perfectly fine in doing it. 

Just make sure the seller signs it.  Bob, I have a quick question on that.  We use 3 percent in our home boss calculation, right?  The buyer has a buyer agency agreement of 2. 5. This buyer can't take advantage of the 3%, but the 3% is used to calculate  the agent compensation.  How do we net out the half percent?

What would happen in that scenario, Fred? That half a percent is credited to the buyer.  It's credited to the buyer. By the buyer,  right? Remember by the agent?  Yes.  Okay, so remember compensation now goes between the seller and the buyer's agent So if the buyer's agent says hey, I agreed to take two and a half percent in the seller I was willing to pay three And I have it in the listing agreement.

That's what we promised  Mr. Agent, you're going to get sent two and a half percent and the buyer is going to get credited a half a percent  Okay, from the buyer agent,  right?  It's important to understand when you buy a broker agreement, whatever you sign it for, you can always take less. Yes, but you cannot take more. 

Now, could here's another one. How's it going to get disclosed? What's that?  How does that get disclosed? This floors from the list? It'll have to be in the offer.  Here's the other thing guys remember in, whatever prehistoric times like last week,  you could never talk about compensation in the contract. 

Can you now? Yes. Yes.  As a matter of fact, again, on the Bright contract, it has  item D, seller subsidy to buyer, and item E is seller payment towards buyer brokerage compensation.  On page one. So again, I will tell you Fred ask your broker, but the way I'm just saying that's I would interpret that is You're going to get two and a half is going to the buyer  So whatever line you told me it was on so they literally did it where you could break that down Which is cool,  but other mls's may not do that. 

That's all This is the contract  But so that's what i'm telling you the contracts and everything are different in different mls's Oh, absolutely. I understand. That's all. It's a trust me guys. I wish there was a way we could make this standardized. It's not I down the road. I think it will be, but it's not right now.

Do you foresee  each brokerage doing what exp did writing their own? I think they have to. Listing agreements and  I'm not worried about listing. I'm saying what happens if we get seven different buyer purchase agreements? What I would say is that most will probably go to this form that I have on the screen, the direct compensation where you're disclosing. 

You're paying the broker, you're paying the buyer, not me.  That's all.  Okay. Because anything that has to do with a payment, right? So payment comes into eXp or it doesn't matter what company. And then it goes out to another company. We just got in the way of, Hey, were we negotiating compensation?  So you open yourself up to more lawsuits. 

So remember, one of the reasons, because I've seen some of these comments in social media too. What the hell did they do that for? Because we are a nationwide brokerage. We are not a franchise.  We are the only nationwide brokerage  that operates as one company.  So guess what? We have to protect him.  So the easiest way for us to do it is saying, Hey, we're out Mr.

Seller, Mrs. Seller, you pay the buyer's agent, whatever it is that you agreed to in the contract.  And we're out of the way.  That's really what we did because if we're out of the way, can we get sued for that?  No, and again, what's the other people? Oh, lawsuit big deal Hey guys, we're publicly traded many of us have become Tremendously well off because of the stock  Do you want to see the stop stock tank because we got a million home sellers?

In a class action lawsuit for how we handled commission after this  if you own stock in this company You don't  right if you're just you know Whatever independent agent or bob century 21 or bob's remax or any of those in the franchisee goes under  Your life going to change You're going to go online and you're going to switch your license to another brokerage and have a good day.

You're good It  doesn't work like that for a nationwide company that's publicly traded.  We got more risk in that they did a Fantastic job in my opinion of protecting their agents through this 

So I do believe that eventually every company will get to this but remember what I just said if there's franchise companies Let's say they got 2 000 franchises  Each one of those are individually owned and operated. They can make whatever decision they want. It's not like the franchisee. They could amend their franchise agreement, but that's not always easy. 

We just have a different setup in this company because we are one company nationwide. 

And they did a hell of a job of protecting the agents. That's it. We're still paying buyers compensation and everything else. It's just going from the seller to the buyer. Buyer's agent. Period. 

What other questions do you have? I put the toolkit in the chat box. I put that video, even though it is, I believe this is the one.  Let me just verify. Yep, that's the one.  I did put the link in there for that too. I highly recommend you watch that too.  In addition, my answer right now, or my comment right now would be, guys, get yourself as much education as possible,  but then sit down with your state broker and your MLS and make sure you're doing it the right way.

Bob, quick on A listing agreement for home boss in the past, we would put  6 percent total or 5. 5 percent total. And then we delineate how that would actually be paid. Still going to be nothing's changing, but I think there is something changing. Now. We're not doing that anymore. Is that correct?

No, I didn't say that.  So just continue forward the way we've been doing it. Is that correct? What's that? So so then we're continuing forward the way we have done it You're going to take right here in listing price listing broker compensation You're going to check three  and then you're going to go put our standard language in the additional terms and services Or additional terms and conditions and if it doesn't fit on there add an addendum page Okay,  the only thing we're going to change is take that your domain name out of your  instructions for agents that you upload as a private document and don't put your website in private comments, public comments, anything they don't go in MLS.

Other than that, nothing. Guys, home boss was built for this time for this to happen. It's built for this.  How does the agents get to the website? Then if they don't know what it is.  where it is  because they're going to come to your open house. They're going to call you, 

Robert. I had this conversation the other day. Is it a bad thing that agents have to call you for information? No,  it's a good way for you to form relationships.  On our Indiana MLS, when you have to do the auction, you have to classify as an auction,  it asks you for the website.  Does it really? Yeah. But again, Tom, it's that I don't think that's an Indiana, but that's your MLS.

That's it.  And the question is, come August 17th, will they still do that? And I don't know the answer to that,  but it just switched to flex MLS and it sucks.  Yeah. Hey, at the end of the day, guys, if they have it in there they, I don't see how they could find you if they said, Hey, what's the website. 

If they do it that way, but.  I follow their guidelines and there's nothing they could do that. It's my answer to everybody in there  I wish I could tell you they were all the same They're not  like if you're in california where they have nine mls is just in the southern half of california. Holy crap  Imagine what that's like for us as a company to have to deal with all those mls's 

Do your point then bob? Would we then in private remarks put things like call me for additional details? Is that the kind of stuff we're going to start putting in there call or text me for information or details Whatever you want to say. Yep  So Bob, is the two clicks, meaning  if you said text me and you, and they got a, and you sent them a link, the link would have no,  they call you for a text.

It's not anything  two clicks out of the MLS. So if we had our private realtor doc in there  and they clicked on it and it went directly to your home boss site. That's one click away.  If you put that link in Zoom somehow, although I promise you they'll catch it, but they  did,  and somebody clicks it and it takes them to Zillow and Zillow takes them to your site, that's not two clicks away. 

So just don't put it in there, guys. Don't overthink this. Just don't put the URL anywhere in your MLS. That's it. But once they contact you, that's a whole different animal, man. Then you've solved the problem. The only, this, all this guys is only about the MLS advertising commission.  You can go nuts. 

If you want like I think I posted that sign where somebody put the sign writer up And i've seen people in social media commenting. Oh, that's as Amateurish or whatever and like ripping on the people and whatever like man you do whatever you want to do you?  And as long as it's legal,  that's all  and so all these agents that are making comments and whatever 

That's all there is to it. 

And so as long as it's not in there, you're good you can run facebook ads to it You can put it on flyers. You can have it all over the open house. You can do whatever the heck you want to do, 

just not in the MLS.  So it's not I know I've talked to some agents like, I don't even want to talk about compensation. It's they're all freaked out. It's it's part of the business. And as long as it's not an MLS, you don't have anything to worry about. And if you put it in your contracts, whether buyer broker or listing agreement, and it's in writing, you have nothing to worry about.

It's just business as usual.  Just make sure you know your rules and your guidelines. That's all  and then don't take shortcuts Don't  try to out think somebody  I'm gonna do this or i'm gonna do that and they won't catch that stop thinking like that  Just do it. It's not a big deal  I actually think sitting down and explaining this to both buyers and sellers.

I actually think that's a good thing  Maybe when buyers understand what is all involved in this process, you won't see people going, Oh, they don't deserve that kind of money.  When they see the work that's involved, what's involved in knowing and all those other things they'll go and try and work their way through some of these deals.

You'll find out. 

In my opinion, this was not good for buyers, but the market's going to dictate what's going to happen. 

So any other questions?  So for those of you listening, I will break this up into two, maybe even three podcasts. I like to keep them at about 30 minutes.  I'll ask one other question, Bob. We're obviously getting people reaching out through WhatsApp and other things where they just want to look and you maybe send them stuff.

But, what would be your take on on how you handle this to. Because as you're really loose you end up with nothing. If you're really tight, people run away. Like I don't, this is getting really difficult to start navigating through. What are your thoughts? I would tell you just, slow down and just think it through.

So let's say somebody reaches out by let's just use WhatsApp.  Can you set me up on a search?  I would do it.  I'm not taking them out to show houses till we sign a buyer broker agreement,  but it doesn't state in there anywhere in any of these guidelines that  to set somebody up on a search, you need a buyer broker agreement.

I would do that.  Okay. Just don't go out and show them a house without one.  Okay. You know how we, I've seen a lot of agents say, you know what, hey, I show the first one before I sit down and have that conversation with them. And then I get them to do it. That way I get to meet them face to face and all those other things. 

It's the same thing.  Except now you can't do it. So if you want to show the first property and kind of demonstrate your expertise that would be a place for the single property one single property buyer broker agreement, but then explain I'm going to do this just because it's for this property.

We showed it the first time, but let me explain how the process now works and what were mandated by  the, the Department of Real Estate for the state of Arizona.  Says that we must do business in this manner or we'd lose our license. So let me explain how that would work  So bob taking to the other idea where you said, when you're writing down the composite  Compensation you said three percent as an example for traditional type listing, but you said for Maybe new home up to five percent.

Why can't we just do up to on all of these approaches because up to is You know fodder for lawyers. You're saying it could be up to, but then blah, blah, blah. Just don't do it that way. I promise. Has to be exact.  What the meaning of the word is for those of you old enough to remember what I'm saying. 

Okay. So for the new builds up to is fine, but again, for the normal 5% if you know that, Hey, there is one, one out of 20 builders pays 5%, do 5%, but explain it to your buyer.  Most of them don't offer that.  What do you, so let's say that

Oh, I see what you're saying because you can always go down. Okay. I got it. You can always go down, but you can't go up.  I gotcha.  So I'm trying to think of a scenario that I could give you where. So let's say that you do have a buyer broker agreement, right? Say 3 percent  and the seller's willing to pay you for,  you can only collect three, correct?

Can you do an addendum to the buyer broker agreement stating that, hey, on this property I'm going to do four?  Yes.  If the buyer agrees to it, right? It's got to be, so you can't addend a buyer broker agreement. You're just going to have to get the buyer to sign off on that. Yeah. What do you think the majority of buyers are going to do? 

In that scenario,  they'd be okay with it.  They might or they might go. How about if we do this? How about if I split the difference they could and can you do that? Yes. Yeah, it's just got to be in what writing  So that's what I said So it's not that oh you can't do business or all these things that everybody's freaking about You can do it.

It just has to be in writing and you have to have these conversations. You just can't just do it that way 

Oh, this is something I just noticed in here, too. Broker is or is not authorized to disclose the existence of offers, including sales price or terms. Oh, this is actually in the listing agreement. I think this is pretty cool  What would you guys  if you had if the people go? I don't know. What's your opinion?

What would you guys say?  Is But if it says is 

that means hey including sales price and or terms I don't mind fred you telling somebody that I got other offers,  but I don't want you Telling them what the price and terms are  Why not?  Because then I lose my negotiating leverage. 

If I send it out to highest and best and you told me to do it, I have to tell everybody what the offers are right now, then. 

Buyers prefer the transparency. When buyers compete, sellers win. That's the Home Boss way, so we don't have this issue because all offers are visible. So if it's a Home Boss listing, you have to say is, because you're going to show that, although the terms are not on a Home Boss listing, right?  The good news is it's not your decision.

This is a seller,  right? In my experience, I've had many buyers. Be turned off by a highest and best counter offer and not having any idea what they're bidding against. Yeah. Oh, we hate them, right? We hate them. We all hate them.  Yeah. So why not disclose it? What I would recommend here  is, hey, I would put it as is,  but I don't want this disclosed. 

So I would come down into the additional terms and conditions.  This is an addendum to item number, whatever that was,  wherever the hell it is.  7.  Broker authorized to disclose the existence of offers excluding sales price and or terms.  Is there any reason you can't put that down here?  No.  It's just the seller agrees to it. 

Now, I'm going to tell you what I would personally do.  Anything that I have additional terms and conditions, I would have them initialing. Yep, I know it's in there. Yes, I know there are signatures.  But I would have them initialing this stuff.  My answer to everything is you can't be too careful. You can't be too detailed.

Initial it. If you're doing any kind of changes to anything or, they're not 100 percent clear, initial. This is all pretty basic clear stuff. But if you have things that you're going to add like that, just have them initial it on top of it. Yeah, you're disclosing it. It's initialed. You did everything you could to make sure that they understood what they were agreeing to.

Does that make sense?  Yep, and in addition to the language at the bottom, would you also cross  out the language in that line? Wait, so you broke up somewhere about halfway through that?  I was just curious if it would be a good idea to also cross out the language in that line about the terms and the price.

Which what I have on the screen right now is 20 21, 18 which, Which clause?  Oh I was just saying if you're gonna add that language into Section 21, Uhhuh, and about about item seven, right? With the pricing firms, would you also cross out you the language about the price and terms in seven and have them initial that  seven is the authorization to promote whereas the broker is or is not bought in that parentheses Oh, here.

I wouldn't cross it out because that will simply amend it.  That's all. Could you? Sure. Is it going to hurt?  And that's here's what I was going to say. You could cross it out and have them initial it. Exactly.  And then you're putting it in the additional terms and conditions. So absolutely.

Here's what I'll tell you. Whatever you can do to be as thorough as humanly possible, the better it is.  Just the better it is. So  I wouldn't be afraid to do that. No,  as much detail and clarity as you can have, the better you protect yourself and them. 

But I actually think those are good conversations to have with sellers because this is the stuff that we deal with all the time, right?  Now they have a better understanding of what we do and what our responsibilities are and things like that.  For me, I'm just not a fan of giving up anything that I give up negotiating leverage.

That's me I have other people go. Hey, I don't care. I just my job's put the deals together  I take mine a little more serious my job is to get the best deal possible for my people whether buyer or seller Doesn't matter to me. That's my job Not yeah, I got to put it together, but I also got to put it together and make the best deal possible for them That's my fiduciary responsibility So i'm not saying any something everybody anybody else is wrong.

Just how I look at that  I take that whole fiduciary responsibility thing really serious. 

Any other questions? 

This is probably going to be three different sessions of a podcast,  and then I will post all this stuff in there. That language, I promise you, Marissa will post in the  CREA mastermind. And we'll go from there.  All right, folks, are you going to send out that piece of text you were reading off the piece of paper?

We're going to, we're going to upload it to the mastermind. Thank you. So  and that's how I yeah, that's how I'd always do it unless it's a home boss listing like that yep.  All right folks. Thanks for being here I hope that help you helped you  and that you're not as afraid of it as you were before Make sure you use this toolkit.

I would tell you to read through those documents Really, I spent a lot of time on Saturday in an airport  reading this stuff, watching videos and pretty much all day Sunday going through  all the different forms, all the different scenarios, watching different videos, seeing different input and whatever. 

Ultimately, the input that cures that is most important to me is what our own company set up.  And the MLS is so I hope that helps and we'll get all that stuff posted. Make sure you review it. Make sure you call your MLS. I would think some of your MLS is guys would be having classes on this stuff too. 

I would tell you to go to this.  So hope that helps.  Don't be afraid of it. Just be thorough. Get everything in writing and you know your value to the consumer. So don't freak out. Okay. I hope these two podcasts have been helpful. Again, be sure please to check with your broker and your local MLS for guidance.

So we'll talk to you next week. And remember if you list you last.