Realtor tacking on 3% on top of wholesalers deal.

[Elliot Lamson]

So iv been working with a realtor out of state. and she said she had an off market listing for me. She said the listing was going to be for 170k. i ran my numbers and the best i could pay is 138k she tells me they would accept. I made the offer blind was going to get it under contract and then was going to have my contractor walk it to make sure my rehab est was close enough. A few days later before i had signed anything she says:

"Also, I was informed that since it's off market, seller is not paying buyer's agent commission, as customary. Are you willing to work this 3% into the purchase price?"

Is this common? i have never heard of it before. Wouldn't her fee be between the wholesaler and her sense she found the buyer? 
I said sure but it was going to make the numbers really tight. i was planning on having the contractor walk it and if need be ask for a price reduction. 

A week goes by and i just now find out its a property from a wholesaler. I never got any type of IP or even seen a picture of the inside of the house. 

Seems kinda shady to me and she was just trying to dbl dip. but maybe its a common thing. 

[Darren Sager]

@Elliot Lamson your Realtor, in my opinion, should have done a couple things differently just to make the situation easier for both of you.  

First off they should have asked the seller, wholesaler or not, what they would be getting paid for such sale of property.   In this case they should have known up front that there weren't going to get paid for such listing which would have brought me back personally to a conversation that I've had with other investors that I work with which is the following:

• On off market deals in which the seller (no matter who) is not paying a commission I'll work either two ways but  first off let me say I won't bring you the deal unless you're going to give me the listing when it comes to retail (the finished product) so that's that.  If we're not clear on that we're not working together.   Now that's covered I'll get paid one of two ways, either by you paying me out 2.5%-3% on top of what they seller is letting you have the place for OR you can pay me later, when the house is brought to market, at a higher % which is NOT evenly split with the buyer's agent.   So an example may be me getting 4% and buyer's agent getting 2.5%.  I'm getting an additional 1.5% for the commission you didn't pay me first go around.  

Your agent, by not finding out if they were getting paid by the seller in this case made the mistake and THEY should have to eat it if they were a professional and didn't do their homework on the deal.  That being said I would figure out a way to make the realtor happy so that they do actually feed you more good opportunities going forward.  Find out a way to make it win win.  But have a conversation with them before you do any other deals going forward.  AND have the conversation with any other realtors you're working with so this never happen again.