For the second time this year I have had a listing agent offer a commission rebate to a buyer who had told them they were considering using me…and in one case the buyer took the bait, fearing their offer wouldn’t get the same consideration (which unfortunately isn’t true).
In the other case, not only did the buyer think it might not work out so well having the listing agent morph into a transaction broker (capable of assisting both parties), but the listing agent ended up calling me and said trying to earn both sides of the commission wasn’t as easy or wise as she thought, so she’d appreciate me stepping in.
Last year, I had another client bite on the same pitch….only to call me after a couple weeks, saying it wasn’t working out and they wanted me to call the listing agent to see if we could unwind it (which we did).
Bottom-line, if a listing agent out there selling a home tries to talk you into working with them, it’s not as easy or prudent as it might appear. And if you can’t think of the right issues or questions to explore with them, feel free to ask me.