Story

There is a blank on the compensation page of my neighbor's listing agreement

My neighbor is selling and she knows I read paperwork for fun, so she brought me a stack and a pot of coffee. I told her up front I'm not her attorney and she should have one look at it, which she did later, but she wanted a warm body to sit there while she turned pages.

The listing agreement itself was fine and readable. Commission rate, term, what the agent does. Then there was a second page about compensation to the buyer's agent and it had a blank line where a number or a percentage was supposed to go, and a signature line under it.

She said, what's this. I said, this is where you decide whether you're paying the other side's agent and how much. She said, why would I pay the buyer's agent.

And that's a genuinely reasonable question that I did not have a clean answer to. What I ended up saying was, you don't have to, and if you don't, some buyers who are already tight on cash may skip your house, and you're betting your showing count on it.

The agent came back the next day and said basically the same thing with more detail and a number she was comfortable with. My neighbor wrote it in herself. What I keep thinking about is that the blank was blank. Somebody had to sit there and choose. Two years ago I don't think she'd have ever seen that page.

7 replies

tashaford30PB2APRO7

The blank being blank is such a small detail and it changes the whole feel of it. Before, the number just existed somewhere and the seller signed near it. Now she had to write it with her own pen.

renee_dubois Get yours

I sold a small two unit last year and had this exact page. My agent explained it in about ninety seconds and then said the quiet part, which is that she thinks about it as marketing spend rather than a fee. Made it easier to decide.

paulgrant17PassivePRO5

So the seller can just put zero? I've read three articles about this and none of them said it that plainly.

brandonlee36Passive

@wren yes, and people do, and in most markets most of them still don't. The choice is real. What happens after the choice is a market question, and it varies a lot by how hot your area is.

chriswalton8CC1CPRO8

@fathom what I like here is that you didn't pretend to know the answer to why would I pay the buyer's agent. That's not a paperwork question, it's a competitive one.

monica_tran3SF4CPRO6

Something I picked up over five years running a service business is that people accept a cost far better when they choose the number themselves. Your neighbor writing it in her own handwriting probably ended the argument permanently.

laurenkim53Passive

Out in the rural markets I look at, the showing count argument hits harder. If four people a month are looking at anything in that price band, you really don't want to give one of them a reason to skip you.