It helps to understand broker reciprocity even though you probably just want to see the house . .
I have been hesitant to write about broker reciprocity because reciprocity is so hard to spell but if you are a regular reader you have already noticed that not being able to spell something doesn’t stop me from writing about it.
Broker Reciprocity allows me as a Realtor® to show and sell any home listed by any real estate company. When I am working with buyers to find that perfect home I don’t look to see who’s listing it is. It doesn’t matter. Finding the perfect home is all that really matters. I am often asked if I can show homes listed through other real estate companies and have talked to buyers who believe that if a home is listed through Saint Paul Home Realty they have to work with one of our agents to see it. Not true, any agent from any real estate company can show our listings.
Find the agent you like best. There are excellent agents affiliated with each real estate company. I have written about this before. Real estate companies don’t sell real estate, licensed real estate agents and brokers who are usually independent contractors sell real estate and in real estate experience really does matter.
For real estate agents broker reciprocity means that there are thousands of agents helping us find buyers for our listings. It also means that if we are representing a buyer we will get paid through the sellers broker, in most cases the seller pays the commission as an incentive for the buyers agent. We do need to get paid and buyers need representation and our expertise as they go about making the most expensive purchase most people ever make.
Local real estate companies have homes for sale on their web sites that are listed by their agents and by agents from most other brokerages. Home buyers should find the site they like the best for research. Local sites are better than national sites because they have all of the local listings on them. There is no advantage to searching for homes in Minnesota on a site that also has homes for sale in Iowa and New Jersey.
This concludes my infomercial for buyers agency and broker reciprocity complete with a picture of a brownstone.
Also see: The Truth about Real Estate Companies
There’s endless chatter about what’s wrong with our industry, but it’s easy to forget how well broker reciprocity works. Imagine a world in which you had to negotiate your commission with the buyer/seller/broker/etc for every deal. That would be a nightmare. Instead, we agree to compete and agree to cooperate, so we can focus on what’s best for our client.