Welcome to our Real Estate 101 series! This is another in a series of articles we’ll be doing to help educate clients and the public in general about relevant topics in the world of real estate. This is important because real estate is a “hyper” local market. What works in one location may not work in another. Lawrence, KS is very different from rural Kansas markets and even other nearby city markets! So, these topics we cover will be very specific to Lawrence and the surrounding areas but may not relate to other places so well. With that being said, let’s dive into our next topic: Who Shows Me the House?
This is perhaps one of those topics that's obvious to some, but not so much to others. If you've never gone through the process, it can be quite confusing at first! And this does come up often. From time to time we received calls from potential buyers on homes we have listed for sale. The first thing on their mind is seeing the house. But, the first question we ask is, "Are you working with a buyer agent?"
If yes, then the answer is simple: its the buyer agent who shows the house. That's their job, and it's part of the basis for how they get paid. If you are a buyer and you hire an agent to work with you, showing you homes is part of their duty to you. The listing agent is working for the seller and working in the seller's interest. If you're already working with an agent, do not reach out to any listing agent! Your Realtor will set things up to see the home.
But, you might say, isn't a listing agent showing the house in their seller's interest? Yes, that's true, but it doesn't take away from the fact that the job of showing the house belongs to a buyer's agent. In order to give their client the right advice, seeing the house with a client is ideal. In a pinch, it may be OK for the listing agent to show it, so long as they work it out with the buyer's agent. This is how the industry is set up, and good agents don't step on each other's toes. And believe it or not, I've gotten the call from someone who says they didn't want to waste their agent's time. I don't recommend ever saying anything like this to a listing agent!
How about if you don't have an agent? Sure, this is an obvious opportunity to meet the agent at the house and go from there. But keep in mind again, the listing agent is working for the seller and AGAINST the buyer. Dual agency is illegal in Kansas, not to mention highly un-ethical. A good and transparent listing agent will give a potential buyer options, not try to persuade them to make an offer unrepresented. If you don't end up liking the house itself, this is an opportunity to interview an agent about representing you going forward. We always recommend interviewing several potential buyer agents!
At R+K Real Estate, we have options for unrepresented buyers. If a potential buyer has never bought a house before, we will refer them to a couple good agents as candidates for representation. For more experienced buyers, we do offer what's called a variable-rate commission structure. Put simply, if a buyer chooses to represent themselves in the transaction, we don't charge our seller the same fees. We reduce the buyer-side commission down to 0.5%. It's a way for our seller to net higher, which may in turn give the buyer more room to negotiate on price. For confident buyers who've experienced the process of buying already, this path may have some appeal.
We also have a policy about showing our own listings. That policy can be viewed here, and you can read more about our variable-rate commissions there too. We feel that having a policy and being committed to transparency are critical when it comes to seller and buyer representation. Too often, we feel, there is predatory behavior in the real estate industry to convince buyers to not use their own agent in order to keep more commission.
So, the best answer to the question of who should show you a house is your agent!
