With the recent changes that took place on August 17, buyers are now having to jump through a few more hurdles to get that home.
1. Buyers now need to sign an agreement with their agent to even view a property. Yes, this sounds clunky, but's it's just an agreement stating that you're being officially represented when you look at properties. This protects all parties.
2. Next, Buyers now are obligated to agree to paying their agents a commission for closing on a property--unless the agent doesn't want to be paid which will likely never happen. This is basically how it's done in NYC--it's like a finder's fee. This commission is of course negotiable.
3. Yes this sounds like a burden, but guess what, lots of little ways this can play out:
- This obligation to pay commission to the Buyer's agent can be paid by the Seller.
- When a Buyer submits an offer, they can ask the Seller to pay for this agent commission
- The Buyer just needs to write this into the offer.
- Believe it or not, many Sellers are open to paying this obligation for the Buyer.
- This commission, whether paid by Buyer or Seller, is negotiable.
- If the Seller won't pay this, oftentimes, a lender can roll this into the loan amount.
