Can I reduce commision to lousy buyer agent?

Question

Appreciate your input and wisdom if you've got similar unpleasant selling experience.I am selling my primary residence and still live there now. An inspection was conducted by the buyer two days ago. We were required to leave the property during inspection. However, when we returned home after the inspection, we noticed the buyer/inspector/buyer agent did not shut down our gas fire place and wall oven before they all left. Additionally, the wood border in the kitchen was also removed from the original position and the nails on the wood may potentially hurt my two young kids. The buyer probably brought kids to our house and they left pop corn residuals on the floor, stairs and master bathroom.We were so shocked, so we filed oral complaints right away. Surprisingly, we learned that the buyer's agent did not stay at our property during the entire inspection but left early due to his personal issue. Our property was left unattended when those people left. The agent was supposed to check the property and ensured safty. However, this is not the case.Before we started to sell the property, I corresponded with my agent by email and agreed to pay 2.5% commission to the buyer agent. We've never signed any official legal documents about sales commisions. Now, we are wondering if there is a way to reduce the commision to buyer agent because we are not satisfied with his service at all. (The buyer made an offer to us right after the open house, so the buyer agent didn't really make too much effort.)Any feedback or suggstions will be highly appreciated.Thank you,Grace

Mark Ferguson · Answer

Here are my thoughts. 1. Stoves are meant to run for long periods of time without catching on fire2. Fireplaces are meant to run for long periods of time without catching on fire. 3. Picking up some popcorn or vacuuming is pretty easy to do. 4. Hard to say how serious the wood border on the kitchen is without more details. I am guessing the inspector forgot to turn those things off and it would be very easy for an agent, a buyer or anyone to miss that the stove was on. They could have easily thought the fireplace was on to begin with. People make mistakes and I the inspector was a little sloppy. I would not expect the agents to complete the inspectors job for him or have any liability for what the inspector did. The owners of the house obviously know it better than anyone else and can check better than anyone else to see if anything was disturbed. I don't see any big problem at all.

Fausto Carosella · Answer

Hi @Grace Wang,I have to agree with @Richard C. if that's your horror story you're pretty lucky! It seems to me your dissatisfaction is a bit unbalanced as it seemed both these agents dropped the ball. Your agent (the seller's agent) is supposed to basically have your best interests in mind.. your representative. Every inspection I've been at (at least for a conventional or occupied home) the seller's agent has been there to at least touch base, and ensure things commence smoothly. As far as leaving things on and messy etc. that is definitely the buyer's agent at fault, HOWEVER, again... the sellers agent should have gone back after everything was said and done to make sure everything was on the up and up. No one was innocent here. I must however clarify what I think many people have a misconception of... that an agent (in this case you state the buyer's agent) doesn't or didn't do much. I'm not defending his sloppy handling of the situation, he's just a poor agent, but buyer's agents are paid to bring a buyer... they might have brought that buyer to 50 different properties before they finally came to yours.. and then it's a lot of hand holding to the buyers from that point on... usually for the next 4-6 weeks or more. Unfortunately there are less good agents than there are bad ones, and as terrible as it is, there aren't many people who will respect your things like you will....

Greg H. · Answer

@Grace WangLet's say all the houses in your area are offering 2.5% to the selling agent and you offer 2%. Guess which property might get left off the list to be shown ?

Grace Wang · Answer

I guess it is never too late to ask this question for future reference purpose. What is acceptable commision expectation for a buyer agent in northern VA now? I am paying 2.5% now.

Mark Ferguson · Answer

You can change the commissions to whatever you want if this deal falls apart, but it will greatly affect the marketing and exposure you get.

Grace Wang · Answer

Now, I have another question for future reference purpose. In case, if this transaction can not be finished due to any reasons, will we be able to change the buyer agent's commision when we re-list the property? Can we also ask to stay in the property when next inspection is conducted? Of course we don't hope to go this route, but just want to have an idea in mind in case this scenario hits. Thanks for feedback!

Grace Wang · Answer

Yes, a life lesson learned. I also learned a lot from all your input. Appreciate it!

Ericka Parrott · Answer

I agree it was your agent who did not provide service here. Your agent, the selling agent, has the responsibility to vet all persons connected with the deal and ensure his client (that's you) is highly satisfied.

Fausto Carosella · Answer

Luckily that didn't happen... your insurance company would've paid for the home, (hopefully!!) but I'm not sure I'd speculate on who would take responsibility. Something like that could get pretty messy very quickly, there's the agent, the inspector, pointing fingers here and there, etc.... I'd just look at the silver lining and chalk it up as a lesson learned a lot easier than it could have been.

Esaul Viramontes · Answer

You wrote earlier that you did not sign anything regarding commsions, HOWEVER, generally speaking all that should have been covered prior to the property being listed. This is also why I will NOT attend a home inspection with my clients.....LIABILITY...Hopefully the rest of your transaction goes smooth! :)