Georgia Realtors - Exclusive Buyer Brokerage Agreement

[Rick C.]

I recently started to look at properties in the Atlanta area, where I intend to do multiple purchases within the next year. I do not live there nor am I from there, so I had a buyer's realtor, whom I recently met, take an afternoon and show me around. This realtor was very helpful, but when I went to make my first offer, it was requested that I sign an Exclusive Buyer Brokerage Agreement. It would go for four months and cover all properties, including off market deals. I invest heavily in the Tampa area and my buyer's realtor there has never even asked me to sign such a document. Is this practice more common, even for investors, in the Atlanta area? If not, is there another document that I should request be used to demonstrate our relationship?

[Joel Owens]

If you are not buying until within the next year then I do not know why this agent is showing you properties.

That is nothing more than a site seeing tour and all the properties you look at if worth anything will be gone by then.

Seems like just meeting up with a local investor and going to lunch and driving around for initial area review would make more sense.

When an investor says they are thinking of doing something next year so many things can happen between now and then that it becomes a probable long shot based on time alone. Life happens and that tends to alter the plans for people and direction they are going.

If you mean between now and end of this year every couple of months you will keep buying properties than that is different.

The agreement itself isn't bad. The 4 month thing on any properties sounds a bit much. Usually with a buyer brokerage agreement you get them to sign a 2 week first to see if you work well together. Any properties shown the protection goes out for months. If after the 2 week period you both really are working well together then look at a longer term sign on period.