Can anybody answer my question.

I put an offer on a house and i spoke to the listing agent couple of days ago. By the way this is a short sale that i want to purchase. So agent called my and left a message saying that had a question for me. Anyway she tells me after the contact was put in, if the purchaser is a license agent there is no commission. She also stated that on all foreclosures and short sales there is no commission paid the a agent if buying the property. Is this true. My broker states this is false. Also she did not disclosed this in her listing or even before i put the offer in. What should i do, i want the property, my broker is going to call the listing agent's broker.

I think this is false UNLESS it states no commission paid to agents who are also the buyer in the MLS. What does the MLS say regarding this, does it specifically say this? I hope you printed out the listing before you submitted the offer, they may have changed it by now.

I am trying to buy REO, and I am supposed to get commission on it. I asked when submitting the offer this very question, but other agents have told me the same thing. But it did not state it in MLS so my broker told me they had to pay. If it says it in MLS, it must be.

This varies on a client by client basis but the most typical answer is that a commission will not be paid to a person that is a party to the transaction.

I would not think you should rely on the MLS notes to tell you though. It is completely unreasonable to expect all the details of a master listing agreement, and property specific supplements, to be included in a field with limited character length. It might be safest for a listing agent to enter in MLS a note such as: "Additional details apply, contact listing agent."

In our area, our commission agreement is through our MLS, with our coop broker. So unless the mls indicated otherwise you would probably be owed a commission by the other broker.

I am TELLING you from doing short sales for 3 years previously and REO for awhile that YES in a short sale situation the BANK on a short sale or foreclosure will not pay a purchaser a commission. The reason is the assett manager wants to keep the banks NET figure as high as possible. The asset manager looks at it as you are directly GAINING as a buyer from the banks LOSS whereas if you ar enot purchasing the property you are earning a commission.

Alos in short sales commission payouts vary. If you are just the listing broker doing both sides most of the time they only pay 3 percent unlike listing REO. For a buyer and listing broker in a short sales sometimes they pay 6 percent total and other times only 5 percent.

When I did shorts I always disclosed in mls commission subject to bank/lender/servicer approval and I would set payout at 2.5 that way I didn't get hit with 2 percent and have to give the buyers broker 3 percent on the deal.

The seller the banks doesn't have to pay you a CENT. You can go after the brokerage but good luck with that. The best thing would be to reduce your price by the commission. So if you offered 150k change the offer to 145k.If they haven't signed off yet you can send a termination letter and then put in a new offer or use a contingency to get out of it.

It sounds like both you and the listing agent or new to short sales which is a deadly combination.

I have seen agents get a commission before on a short sale, but not on an REO.

If no commission is being offered to buyers that are agents it should be stipulated on the MLS. At least in our area.

I have had several REO's sold to agents and have never had a commission NOT paid to the agent. My listing agreement states a commission of XX, $$ to me and $$$ to selling agent. Nowhere does it state that if an agent is the purchaser there is no commission.

So for anyone to say that on ALL foreclosures there is no commission is just not right. Might be for her client but certainly not for mine.

Yes, have your broker call hers and let them figure it out.

Wow,your area is definitely not like mine. It has it in our mls all over the place and in bank addendums that no commission will be paid to brokers/agents purchasing for themselves.

We have a few small exceptions. I would rather negotiate a lower price anyway than get the commission.

I actually thought I deleted my post when I realized the OP was talking about short sales and I was answering about a REO. Oh well, it got posted anyway and thats ok.

It can't be a difference in areas but more likely the client as the banks dont change their addendums. Have you actually seen all these bank addendums that say "no commission paid to brokers/agents..."?

I'm wondering if the listing agent puts that in themselves. I know some around here that say "minimum of 3% down" or "pre approval from direct lender only" as if it is a bank requirement and it is really THEIR requirement,.

Concepts05: Often these requirements are buried in a Master Listing Agreement and are not repeated in property specific assignment supplements. I would be very careful that what is offered in the MLS agrees with client listing agreements. If a licensed agent is a party to the contract that must be disclosed, a sharp lawyer for the seller may note that for comparison to the commission distribution.

Alot of banks will not pay the agents commission if the agent is the buyer (in my area). Its stated in the MLS though in an agents only section.

Shortsales- I could see the bank counter back stating that they will not pay a commission to an agent buyer. Its part of a counter offer, you can accept or counter back on your commission. Hell every shortsale I have done, the bank tries to slash away the commission anyways.

hmmmm....interesting...I seem to be in the minority here.

Don't have time right now but I'm going through my listing agreements later. I know it's not in the addendums as I already checked...

These things change over time too. For example denial to pay commission to an agent purchaser used to be part of the Fannie Mae Master Listing Agreement but more recently they have dropped that restriction.

It would be interesting to see how a court might view this rather common restriction. I think it could be challenged as discrimination.

I did many REOs and buyers were agents and got paid the commission, I think all agents were paid never stated in contract that they are buyer and agent, even required by law, they should and they did not and I am too busy to report them, besides they helped me earning my split

My master agreement for one bank states "Brokers and/or agents purchasing for themselves may not collect a brokerage fee" I asked for clarifcation if it was just on the listing side, was informed that this applies to either listing or selling agent.

I went through all my other clients master listing agreement...did not see that in those.

We had a sale with this bank that the agent putting in the offer disclosed she was an agent buying for herself. They paid her commission in full. So beats me! But I put in all my disclosures brokers buying for themselves may not receive commission. It probably all comes done to net.

Did you inform your client (the bank) that it was an agent buying the property? If not you did not honer your client intructions. It was part of the master listing agreement that they get no commission.

Yes, It was on the offer in writing and also the agency disclosure. Also submitted in the remarks when entering the offer originally. No one was expecting the commission, I told the closing attorney send the HUD back to the bank after I saw it on there, she said that the original HUD she prepared did not have the commission on it. The seller's attorney added it and sent it back. Also on that deal the buyer was told she had to pay transfer tax, the seller paid those as well. That fee was on the buyer side, the bank attorney changed it to the sellers side.

In the end master listing agreements are boilerplate and I gues sometimes the bank just rolls with it and wants it closed.

I guess I figure the same. That may be in place for most cases, but maybe they allow themselves to deviate from that. This case happened to be a full price offer 3 days on market, so maybe they met and/or exceeded Net expectations & just went with it. The other agent did not make a big deal about it, just took it as is, so that was not an issue to make the deal happen. Every deal is different, who knows! I figure if I disclose from the beginning there wont be an issue later, who is going to complain about getting paid when not expecting it. Or not having to pay transfer tax. But......, non disclosure at the closing table could result in a horror story!!! My policy is disclose, disclose, disclose! Better safe than so very sorry!