Am I Owed Commission for Showing a Buyer a Property They Later Buy Without Me?

Chris at Cribfox (https://www.cribfox.com) goes over whether a real estate buyer's agent is automatically owed commission for showing a buyer a listing even if that buyer later buys the property without the buyer's agent.

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The answer is it depends. As we'll discuss in this video, buyer's agents aren't automatically eligible for the buyer agent commission on a listing just for showing the property to a buyer.

They have to be the procuring cause of the sale if the buyer ultimately buys the property. Being the procuring cause involves more work than just showing the property once or even twice.

Typically, procuring cause means having submitted an offer for a buyer, having negotiated an accepted offer, and then having that accepted offer proceed to closing.

Typically, it's too late for the buyer to switch agents after their buyer's agent has already negotiated an accepted offer for them.

For example, a buyer without an exclusivity agreement can technically fire their buyer's agent the day before closing, and hire another buyer's agent. But that new buyer's agent wouldn't be the procuring cause of the sale, and the original buyer's agent would be in the eyes of the court.

Lastly, whether you can get a buyer to sign an exclusivity agreement or not depends on the market you're in. In competitive metro markets like NYC or Miami where there are many more agents than sales completed per year, it's the norm for buyers to be "free agents" who aren't expected to sign any sort of exclusivity.

However, in less competitive suburban or rural markets where the buyer's agent has to do more work (i.e. driving the buyer around by car), then it may be the norm for the buyer's agents to demand exclusivity.
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Cribfox Inc.
Email: [email protected]
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