AboutRick Stone, Broker/Owner, CRS, ABR, GRI Expertise I am a licensed Real Estate Broker serving Virginia, Washington, D.C & the areas surrounding Cabo san Lucas, Mexico. I am currently involved in building homes in the Cabo area. I have served as chairperson for my HOA Architectural Review Board. I will do my best to respond to any related questions regarding the buying or selling of real estate.
Questions can be regarding your search in finding a great agent to work with and what to do with a bad one. Real estate agency, contract issues, home inspections, real estate investing and property disclosure issues. I'll do my best and wave my magic wand to get you out of problems concerning your builder or be happy to tell you what you should had known before you wrote the contract or before you do. How do you buy or sell raw land, tear down an old house and rebuild new, and all you should know about waterfront properties are good questions too.
I will say this, I am candid with my reposnces and do my very best to offer advice that may teach but there are cases where if as Forrest Gump's mother would say, "stupid is what stupid does" or something like that, I may have to scold you to get my point across.
Experience I'm proud to hold the following professional real estate designations: CRB, Council of Real Estate Brokers - CRS, Certified Residential Specialist - GRI, Graduate of the Realtors Institute and ABR, Accredited Buyers Representative. I am a member of the National Association of REALTORS, Mexican Association of REALTORS (AMPI) and the Los Cabos MLS. I own and sell waterfront properties so I can address issues related to living on the water. I represented a custom builder for many years and have sold hundreds of new homes so, fire away with your questions regarding new home construction.
I'll do my best to be straight up and help if I can or I will tell you if I can not and who to contact in that event. I am not an attorney and can not provide legal advice. If you are having a dispute with a seller or buyer who has failed to live up to the contract terms, or a tenant that is always late with paying their rent, while I may not be able to help, I may be able to offer suggestions and then who else to contact.
Please, please, please, understand that real estate law, agency and tenant rights / law differs from state to state and so I will best serve those who have problems in Virginia, Washington DC or Mexico. While I am happy to answer all questions from any one who writes me and offer advice, please understnad that in some cases, I may not be able to help you at all. Please tell me what state your property is located in, if you have a problem with commissions, discharging agents, getting out of a contract, do us both a favor, first look in your documents for the language therein and when you write me, please say that you have re-read that wording.
If you have not yet hired your agent, write me for essential questions you should ask first and save yourself a lot of time, agony, misery and possible financial unhappiness.
Question QUESTION: I am selling my home For Sale by Owner to save on Commission fees. I paid the flat fee of $377 on the owners.com website to have it posted on the MLS. A realor contacted me, had me fill out a VA Regional Listing Agreement so he could post it. He understands we are not using a Realor but will pay the Buyer's Agent the 3% if they bring us a buyer. I want to make sure the agreement does not say I will pay the Seller's Agent a commission (the agent that is posting to the MLS) because we do not want a Realtor. I want to pay no realor or only the Buyer's Realor the 3%. How should section 7 read to accurately state that? (note: this realtor says he could also bring us a Buyer but would be their agent and not mine still, is this true?) Again, my goal is to pay no realtor or only one Realtor the 3%. Thanks in advance.
ANSWER: Hello Crystal.
I have never worked with such an arrangement.
To be certain of the right answer, please contact this owners.com and have them explain their policy to you.
My guess is that the agent works for that company and is paid part of that $377 to simply enter it into the system.
In the MLS it should state that this agent is only the listing agent of record and that all contacts, showings and contract negotiations are to be directly with the Seller. I have seen many listings like this.
It is true that if this same company brings in a Buyer that purchases your property, you will owe them that same 3% fee at closing.
Rick
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QUESTION: Hi Rick, this Realtor does not work for owners.com, i was only referred to him as a Realtor who will post to the MLS. He gets $150 of the $377 I paid to owners.com to post my listing. The agreement is the standard VA sales contract, are you familiar with that?
Answer Yes, I am, though I have been living and working in Cabos san Lucas for the past two years so all the specific language I do not have memorized.
If there is language in this agreement that you feel does not represent what you are agreeing to, simply strike it out and initial it.
Again, there is not a formal listing company, whoever this realtor is that does this kind of thing is only paid to place it in the MLS or if they bring in a buyer.
Maybe I am not the right person to answer this question. Call the NVAR (Northern Virginia Association of REALTORS) in Alexandria or Fairfax and ask for the legal department. The reason Sellers hire REALTORS is to help them understand these kind of issues. I hate to say this but data supports that FISOs get less net that would from hiring an agent to represent them, especially in a down market as we are having now.
I hope you have someone closer than me to tell you what else you need to do in order to do this. I'm sure you already are up to speed on the Governments Fair Housing Guidelines regarding advertising and what disclosure documents you must supply a potential buyer, what questions you are required to answer from them, understand the terminology in all 15 or so pages of a purchase agreement, know what to do regarding the various inspections, the appraisal, supplying the proper documentation to your lender, the closing attorney, providing the Buyer with a new set of resale documents if you live in PUD and so on.
