Buyer Agency Agreements

[Mike Higgins]

Do most of you work only if you have this agreement or are you also willing to just work with someone as a customer?  It always seems like a tricky thing to bring up (being new) and didn't know if there were any tips any of you veterans use.   Thanks. 

[Matt Lefebvre]

@Mike Higgins Welcome to the wonderful world of contracts :).  As hard as we all try... we sometimes slip up and work with unsigned buyers and could end up paying the price further on down the road.  That's not to say that all buyers who are leery about signing with you will go out and buy a house without you... however it can and does happen.

If you've been in constant contact with them and have spent time (and thus money) on them, its time to sit down and talk about the agreement.  If you've thoroughly shown your benefits and services by working with them so far, tell them that's a "trial period" of what's to come later and talk with them about the agreement.  Trust is a two-way street so they have to trust you to keep doing the great job you're doing, and you have to trust them that they'll stay loyal to an agent whose putting in a lot of work.  If after explaining to them the agreement and they still seem uneasy about signing it, isolate the issue.  Determine what is holding them back.  At least where I'm at, the buyer doesn't pay the agent's commission so if that's an objection, you can address it straight out and explain to them the seller generally pays for the commission.

If you go into a meeting with them expecting them to sign and being confident that its just a simple paper that you need to move through, it'll be a breeze.  The first clients I got never once questioned the agreement and after reviewing the contract, signed with no problem!  Sometimes its our own beliefs that cause these issues.

Best of luck and feel free to reach out to me if you have any more questions!