When does an owner need to pay commission?

Apartment Specialists Podcast No: 65

Summary:

Have you ever thought about the commission that you need to pay your agent when they find a buyer for you? In this podcast, I will discuss more about commission and how you should deal with your agents, especially if you're the one who found the buyer.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Good day, Andrew Murray from The Apartment Specialists. Now, what happens if while you're selling your apartment through an agent, you find a buyer? Now, there are two ways I look at this personally. One is if the buyer came through the marketing or the initiative of the real estate agent, well then, the real estate agent deserves the commission because they created the opportunity. They positioned your apartment, they marketed it well, they used their expertise.

Now, if you came across the buyer just because-- through friends or at the pub or just stumbled across it and you created that opportunity yourself, well then, as a real estate agent we're paid because of the results we deliver. So if we didn't create that result, how we operate at The Apartment Specialists - and my personal belief - is we don't deserve the commission. You shouldn't have to pay for us. You just have to pay for the marketing that we did to create that initiative, because I believe it's fair, but you should not have to pay that commission.

But unfortunately in New Zealand, that is not actually how it is, so if you find a buyer and you're listed with another agency, just be aware that you're going to have to pay the commission even if you found a buyer yourself through your own initiative. That's something very important that you need to know. Anyway, hope that helps and talk to you soon.

Cheers.