We thought this blog article by Greg Hanner was worth reposting.
I often get told by prospective Buyers that they don’t understand why they have to sign a Buyer’s Representation Agreement (aka Buyer’s Broker Agreement) before I can show them properties listed by others. The reason is simple – it’s the law. The link below is to a Q/A put together by the CT Association of Realtor’s assistant legal counsel is a great resource that explains the details in the following PDF:
“Buying A House Is Not Like Buying A Car“
An agent can show you any of their own listings and you don’t have to have representation as a Buyer. That’s not the most efficient way to find the perfect home though since you would really have to contact each listing agent individually to see their listings.
A home Buyer in CT can often get representation for themselves at no cost to them as many Buyer’s Brokers accept the Listing Broker’s offer of compensation that’s made to the Buyer’s Broker from the Listing Agent sharing a portion of the fees the Listing Agent collects from the Sellers.
In the PDF link above, Judith makes another good point:
Q: A buyer can lower a purchase price by not using a buyer agent, right? Generally, no. Some buyers believe buying a home without using a buyer’s agent automatically lowers a purchase price because now there’s no buyer broker commission. However, that would be incorrect because through a listing agreement a seller agrees to compensate the listing company $X, so if the listing company sells the property without the cooperation of a buyer’s broker, it receives all of $X, not a portion of it.
I hope this helps. Feel free to ask questions.
