Buyer's Agreement Request from Agent - Is this normal for investors?

[Bill Morris]

We have a couple from Keller Williams helping us to find our 1st investment property. I knew the husband from an adult hockey league and that's how we made the connection. My wife is also in the process of getting her license and will be listed as their "mentee" so that they get paid (by KW, not us) every time my wife does a deal in the future. This is a unique program to KW I believe. Anyhow, we also have a couple other realtors who have shown us homes and/or sent us many potential properties as well as 1 specific deal which won't require any agents at all. We've been looking for a couple months and have seen several homes and are getting very close to pulling the trigger.

SO, today I get a call from our KW agent saying that he forgot to have us sign their "Buyer's Agreement" and that if they got audited, he would get in trouble. He should have had us sign this awhile back when we started etc. Said it's not a big deal. (They don't know that we've had others helping us in our search...hey, the more eyes the better, right?)  Well, he emailed me the electronic doc and I went in to sign, when I realized that the contract locks me up until Jan 2016 (he filled that date in, not sure how he chose that) for exclusive rights for him to be my buyer's agent in all transactions for "single family homes / investment properties."  I can't sign this and will have to explain to him.  IS THIS A NORMAL REQUIREMENT OR PERHAPS A KELLER WILLIAMS REQUIREMENT OR IS HE TRYING TO LOCK ME UP SO THAT WE DON'T USE SOMEONE ELSE??

Sorry for the long story....any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, 

Bill Morris

[Doug Merriott]

Originally posted by @Bill Morris:

SO, today I get a call from our KW agent saying that he forgot to have us sign their "Buyer's Agreement" and that if they got audited, he would get in trouble. He should have had us sign this awhile back when we started etc. Said it's not a big deal. (They don't know that we've had others helping us in our search...hey, the more eyes the better, right?)  Well, he emailed me the electronic doc and I went in to sign, when I realized that the contract locks me up until Jan 2016 (he filled that date in, not sure how he chose that) for exclusive rights for him to be my buyer's agent in all transactions for "single family homes / investment properties."  I can't sign this and will have to explain to him.  IS THIS A NORMAL REQUIREMENT OR PERHAPS A KELLER WILLIAMS REQUIREMENT OR IS HE TRYING TO LOCK ME UP SO THAT WE DON'T USE SOMEONE ELSE??

Sorry for the long story....any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, 

Bill Morris

Man, I am going to have to try that line...

This is bogus. It is a suggestion from major brokerages that buyer's agents try and get some kind of contract to ensure that the buyer agent is compensated for the amount of time spent with the buyer. This can even include some fee paid at closing (typically to compensate for another bogus "MLS fee" that listing agents charge). I am currently in a situation where a buyer I have been working with for 6 months is working me in Clearwater and another agent in Tampa. Had I gotten this agreement I could have saved myself some grief, but I personally feel that it is an affront to my integrity to lock a buyer down with a contract rather than my personality and work ethic.