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Real estate professionals need to be cautious about the business advice they receive —especially from so-called “experts” on social media —because solutions aren’t one-size-fits-all, particularly in the age of industry practice changes, Barb Betts, CRS, told attendees at NAR NXT, The REALTOR® Experience, in Boston on Friday.
The National Association of REALTORS® has released a series of “Consumer Guides” at facts.realtor, as well as member resources on dos and don’ts when working with buyers and sellers, to help understand and communicate the changes to clients and prospects.
Betts discussed a few problematic business scenarios to consider:
- A buyer signing more than one exclusive agreement. Betts said real estate pros need to determine what, if any, contract their client signed previously.
- A listing agent who doesn’t present an offer from an unrepresented buyer. She said agents have an obligation to present every offer to their seller, “unless you have it in writing from the seller directly that they don’t want to see these offers.” She then listed scenarios where an unrepresented buyer’s offer could still be in the seller’s best interest.
- Advising a client not to view a property when the listing agent can’t confirm that the seller is willing to entertain concessions. This could potentially run afoul of ethics, she said.
As for compensation, Betts said it’s important to discuss with sellers the potential advantages of paying for the buyer broker’s compensation as part of the arrangement.
“So, Mr. Seller, you can expect to receive offers where the buyer is going to request that either you take care of paying that representation fee, a portion of that fee or you issue them a concession so they can” use that concession however it is needed, Betts said. “Friends, that dialogue's working, and I promise you sellers are loving it.”
She also encouraged buyer’s agents to help buyers come up with a strategy to pay for all homebuying costs, including compensation, in the event a seller chooses not to cover the buyer broker fee.
“One thing that I've learned in my career is clients can handle bad news, but clients don't like surprises,” Betts said.
