Quote:
Originally Posted by jlstyle
Buyers don't pay a dime for the agent. It is the seller's agent who splits commission with buyer's agent. And no, you dont pay any premium for their qualification.
Lastly, you would want to ask your agent about his transaction histories if you want to interview but I wouldnt. You would want to find a person who can click with you, not a person who passes your test. It all varies what buyer wants from the agent.
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This isn't entirely true. The buyers do pay for the agent, just not necessarily in terms of a payment they can see. Yes, the seller's agent and buyer's agent would split the commission, but, if you use no agent you can always negotiate that into the price and tell the seller he only has to pay his agent the half commission and that way you get the house cheaper.
The cost of splitting the commission is built into the purchase price of the home by the seller - if they pay less commission, they will sell the house for less as long as they are at least made whole at the end.
I'm not sure if agents would do this, but you could also look into seeing whether they would give you a 1/3 or whatever of their full commission in order to be your agent. Not sure what the appetite would be for that, myself I probably wouldn't try that, but who knows. If it was an agent where they were both selling my house and also being a buying agent for me, then I'd certainly ask them for a discount on the sale of the house.