Question about buyer's broker

If you're dealing with REBNY member brokers, listing broker probably obligated to pay buyer's broker regardless of whether you throw him / her to the four winds or not.

Ali r
DG Neary Realty

Thanks Ali. So if we make another offer now, and the deal closes, even if the other broker is not involved the listing broker will be required by law to give 50% of the commission to the broker that originally showed us the house since we signed that paper.

This will be guided by the contract the seller signed with her agent and the rules that apply to agents. You are not obligated to do anything. If you want to deal with the seller's agent yourself or with a different agent, that's up to you and the brokers will work out what happens with the commission. You should be up front about the history of all this with any broker you speak with, though, for this property. I am accepting on face value what you say about what you signed: a simple statement that original broker Jane Doe showed you the apartment. That kind of statement is more an acknowledgement on your part that the broker can use to establish the amount of commission s/he is or isn't entitled to should a sale occur. It is not a contract between you and the broker.

Thanks Kyle - thats helpful - the listing broker is still the same so she knows the first time we saw the place it was with this other broker. And I believe that is all what I signed said- when they came back saying our offer was too low to counter, I threw the piece of paper away figuring we didnt need it after that.

unless the seller is getting a discount if you have no broker, and the seller is extending that discount to you via a lower price, what do you care if your broker gets a cut?

gcondo: I think the concern of the poster is more about whether she needs to go through the broker who originally showed her the place because the poster would rather not work with that person again. But you are correct: there is unlikely to be any financial advantage to the buyer of not using a broker or using a different broker.

The first agent may come out of the woodwork to try to argue she "procured" the apartment for you. Google "procuring cause" for more info. Either way, though, I believe the agents would have to duke it out amongst themselves.

the only question (for which there is no answer) worth asking about a buyers' broker is

why?

stop beating yourself up about the piece of paper, which was probably a simple REBNY disclosure form about the function of a buyer's broker (although it may have been an actual contract, I don't know).

The agreement between the listing broker and the buyer's broker you were working with at the time is an interagency agreement, and what happened is that when you came to the property the listing broker wrote down that you were accompanied by so-and-so, and when you put in your first offer, the listing broker wrote down that it came through so-and-so.

As such, the sense in the listing broker's mind that you are consumers of that first buyer's broker is in force whether YOU signed anything or not.

Now, if you don't want to put in your new offer through that buyer's broker, you don't have to -- the Dept. of State says you're allowed to pick your representation, and so at this point, it could be the original buyer's broker, or the listing broker, or a new buyer's broker. Whatever. You can pick who you want to work with. That's your consumer right.

However, the listing broker is still going to have a sense that you were registered with the first buyer's broker, and may feel obligated to pay that broker's firm even though you've switched representation.

So you can freely switch representation, but the person you worked with previously may still get compensated by the seller.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

gcondo: I think the concern of the poster is more about whether she needs to go through the broker who originally showed her the place because the poster would rather not work with that person again.

Yes Kyle that was our concern.

Thanks again Ali as well.

Didnt need the buyers broker but she kept badgering us after we went to 1 of her open houses I started to feel bad...

If you've lived in NYC, don't you know better than:

1 - Go with a broker "just to be nice"
2 - To not bid what you believe a property is worth because of a broker's advice? Obviously you were closer 7 months ago to the actual value of the property.

IMHO - don't go out with brokers you do not intend to use. When she offered to bring you to the place in the first place you should have simply said, "we are aware of this property."

I agree with Village 100%