Any incentive to break a deal for buyer agent?

BTW, I do offer buyer agent 2.5% commission.

FSBO stands for Difficult Unrealistic Seller. or something like that.

Some agents will ignore FSBO's- absolutely. They shouldn't but they do.

Yes there is incentive for the buy-side broker to dissuade her client. Why? welll, for one--she won't make the full 3% commission that she'd get if there were a traditional listing agent (splitting standard 6% in half) and she'll need to do more work for the lower commission. Unless of course you are willing and capable of assisting buyer with correctly prepping the board package. I have seen deals where buy-side agent sits around eating donuts while sell-side agent handles all the nuts and bolts of a sale. Sounds like this agent would prefer that scenario and the higher commission it would yield.

This kinda happened to me when i was buying too because the seller used a small broker and the total commission was 5%. My buyer agent back then showed less interest. I had to push him a little bit on making the offer. He doesn't do anything to break the deal though; 2.5% commission is better than nothing, I guess.

If it is a condo without a board package , it's an easy transaction and your only real obstacle is whether 2.5% commission is an issue or not. If it's a co-op, in many instances you can offer 3% and they might balk, because they are afraid of the possibility of the seller not knowing or understanding the process involved- and then needing to step up their efforts just to get the deal done.

I think it is pretty well established that most NYC buyers are working with an agent. Because of this I think it is always a good idea that the seller offer to pay a commission to a buyer agent. I think it will assist in exposing your listing to the maximum amount of potential buyers in a seamless manner. For a FSBO we always email the seller and ask if they are paying a buyer agent commission, if so we proceed. If not we advise our client they should pursue the listing without us (we will still advise if asked). We successfully assisted in several FSBO sales last year.

This may not be well taken, however many of our buyer clients have noted it can be very difficult dealing with a seller directly. It can get a little hairy when as a buyer you start to challenge the pricing, finishes etc. Just saying. We have no issue doing doing deals with sellers offering 2%, our biz model allows for this and ultimately it serves the best interest of our clients. Sounds corny, but again we are building long term relationships and to date have not paid a dime in adverting.

I don't agree with this idea that the listing agent or buyers agent has so much influence over their client. NYC sellers/buyers are a sophisticated group and would not fall prey to some sales person nonsense of trying to manipulate them one way or the other.

Keith Burkhardt
The Burkhardt Group

>Unless of course you are willing and capable of assisting buyer with correctly prepping the board package.

Of all the parties involved - seller, seller's broker, buyer's broker, co-op board / managing agent - the one party I least want with his or her hands in my board package is the seller. Others are in the industry, professionals, standards, have stakes in the game etc. A difficult seller (proven by doing a FSBO) is the person I least, by far, want with my social security number, references, income, taxes, history, employment info, etc. etc.
FSBO in NYC is a bad idea for the buyer.

Well said Keith. It is always a pleasure working with you.

I find it interesting that the buyer's agent asked you if it was a FSBO listing. Sort of an indication that they knew nothing about the listing before showing it and were just along for the ride.