For Listing Agents
If I bring you my listing,
do I still get paid?
Yes. And here’s how I structure it so your seller never mentally subtracts it.
Most agents never ask me this out loud. They just decide the answer is no and stop calling.
That’s fair, because with a lot of investors it is no. The offer shows up with your commission quietly carved out of the seller’s proceeds, and now you’re the one asking your seller to take less so you can get paid. So the whole category earns a reputation, and a listing that could have closed sits for six more months instead.
So let me answer it before you have to ask.
Question 1: the one that decides everything
“Do I get paid, and out of whose pocket?”
Mine. Most of the time I pay the commission and the closing costs, and I quote your seller a net. Not “I’ll give you $210,000,” because the second a seller hears a price they start subtracting. I say your seller nets $210,000, that’s the number they walk away with, and I take care of you on top of it.
I’ll usually just ask you straight: what are they paying you, two and a half, three? Whatever it is, I’ll handle it.
I’m not being generous, I’m being selfishI want you to bring me the next one. An agent who sends me three deals is worth more than anything I’d save by squeezing you on this one.
Question 2: the part most agents don’t expect
“Is that a one-time thing?”
No. If I flip it, you list it. Same house, same agent. On one I bought off market, the seller wasn’t paying an agent at all, so I paid the agent two percent when I bought it, and then gave them the listing and paid two percent again when I sold it.
One deal you brought me, two checksAnd it isn’t a favor, it’s the obvious call. You already know the house. You’ve been inside it, you know the street, you know what it was and what it needed. Why would I hand it to somebody who has to learn all that from scratch?
Question 3: the honest one
“Always?”
Most of the time, yes. Some deals are tight enough that it doesn’t work the same way, and when that’s the case I’ll tell you up front, before you take it to your seller.
What I won’t do is surprise you at closingYou’ll know what you’re getting while we’re still on the phone about it.
How to ask any investor this, in one sentence
“Before I take this to my seller, tell me plainly: what happens to my commission, and does that change if it’s terms instead of cash?”
Ask it exactly like that. If they get vague, you have your answer about them.
Why I’d rather you call me than not
I’m not trying to take your listing. I’m trying to be the call you make when a listing can’t fund, so it doesn’t sit for six months and pay you nothing.
If the numbers on your listing come back clean, list it. Go. That’s a good listing and you should have it. When they come back ugly, that seller still needs a way out, and you still deserve to be paid for finding it. That’s the only part I’m asking for.
Before you take the listing: five questions that tell you in ninety seconds whether it can close and pay you. therobertszigeti.com/agent-five-questions
The free tool: a calculator that runs the real payoff, the arrears compounding while it sits, holding costs, and what the seller actually walks away with. No email required. therobertszigeti.com/sell