As a Realtor, would you show clients FSBO properties… of course not, how would you get paid??

As a Realtor, would you show clients FSBO properties… of course not, how would you get paid??

This headline is a sentence contained in a post published today titled For Sale By Owner | FSBO | Why NOT To Do It. I am completely on board with the premise that a home is best handled by a professional Realtor®, it struck me rather odd that a real estate company would not know how to get paid by an unrepresented seller, and I responded to the post with several suggestions:

1. As a true buyer’s agent, we have a written contract with the buyer covering the subject of compensation and the buyers obligation to pay for my services if the seller, doesn’t.

2. In Texas, we have a promulgated form that allows us to register a buyer with an unrepresented seller and reach an agreement for compensation, before we show the property. In many cases, that compensation includes a full buyer representation fee and an extra % for the trouble of managing the process with an unrepresented seller. All fees are negotiable.

3. One can always write an offer to clarify who will pay the fees to the buyer’s agent.

One could argue real estate agents not show “owner offered” properties until they knuckle under and list, but my duty is to my client, so if it works for them, it works for me.