What is typical in buyer's agreements...

[Michael W.]

A little new to this so sorry if these questions don't make sense or if I don't use the right terms.

My "Buyer's Agent", who I like very much, sent me an agreement to review & sign. Reading it closely it appears that is more an agreement with the agent's broker and not as much the agent (I assume this is normal but don't really know)...

For reference, the agreement is titled "Residential Buyer/Tenant Representation Agreement" apparently created by the "Texas Association of Realters" and has Form ID: (TAR-1501) 4-14-06.

I had a few questions around what is normal/customary:

Section 8 Intermediary choosing between 8A (Intermediary Status) or 8B (No Intermediary Status):
They already checked 8A before sending me the form. We have already seen all available property listings and at this point none of them are from this Broker. I don't really feel comfortable with Intermediary status in general and certainly don't think it is needed. Is it more normal for Buyer's agreements to be "Intermediary" or "Not Intermediary" or are both about equally done? Is there any reason why I shouldn't tell them that I want 8B checked instead (No Intermediary Status)?

11 Broker's fees: (11.A - Commission): I think there is a typo saying 66.000% and believe they meant to put 6.000% of gross Sales price. I am confused as I understood it to be 3%. Is 6% typical on the buyer's agreement or is 3%? Is this 6% because they choose 8A for me and/or would it 3% for 8B? Bottom line is that I am not comfortable with 6% because I believe it basically says I am liable for this if the seller, &/or Seller's Agent, &/or Seller's Broker doesn't pay the 6% or 3%.

As a point of reference for both of the above question areas, in my inexperience I frankly may have muddied the 'Procuring Cause' waters with 2 of the potential properties as I went to see them without an buyer's agent with me and the seller's agents may try to claim "Procuring Cause" because they told me about the individual property. This is a real concern since one of the seller's agents, when I tried to introduce my agent to him, already tried to force me to use him as a broker & that he would assign me a buyer's agent (or reassign someone else as the seller's agent). I politely told him he was never hired and I frankly didn't agree with anything he said and that he has a clear conflict of interest. If either of those 2 ends up being the property we buy I think we will likely, in the end, be OK on all grounds (both abandonment & estrangement with Seller's agents who told me about the respective property before I found my agent, the fact that neither seller's agents were actually present when I visited the properties (neither actually showed me their property), I have a witness that can attest that I asked/confirmed they were the seller's agent & that I said that I explicitly did not want them to be my buyer's agent due to their conflict of interest & that I was looking for a buyer's agent separately, the only written agreements will be with my agent, all due diligence (comps, research, site visits, etc) have been done with this agent, and the actual offer/procurement will be from/through this agent). All that being said I realize that, even with all my ducks in a row, things could go against me and am prepared for 3% but certainly not 6%.

Section 11.F Broker's Fees in addition to commission:
- Service Providers: Basically sounds like they are reserving the right for referral fees from the service providers...
- Construction: is left blank...
- Other: is left blank...
Is leaving them both blank typical or do people typically put 0% & none?

"Section 7.D: Representations: Name any employer, relocation company, or any other entity that will provide benefits to Client when acquiring property in the market area:...".
Not sure what section 7.D means... Am I supposed to list any potential service provider up front? I have no idea yet who in that area I will trust to do the additional services that need to be done to actually close the deal (survey, inspection(s), structural engineer(s), repair/improvement contractor(s), title, lawyers, etc)...

Lastly, I am going to try to shoot this document to a real estate attourney as well (if he says this is something he does or a regular attorney if he does not) but I figured some of the folk on this forum could at least tell me what is typical/normal as the lawyer may only be able to tell me what is legal....