The picture above has nothing to do with the post. I like brownstones. I have been hesitant to write about broker reciprocity because reciprocity is so hard to spell.
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 Keller Williams 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.
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
I once commented or wrote an article about this. My client of several years was being persued heavily by another agent. The other agent was lobbying heavily for my clients business. The bargaining chip the other agent was using was the status or percieved strength of the company that he was affiliated with.
My client wanted to know 2 things.
1) Did I know of the other company?
2) What company did I work for?
Fact : Most people do business with Agent’s the like and trust.
[…] is the seller that pays us, it is called “broker reciprocity” and we get paid through the sellers broker. When an agent lists a home the seller agrees […]