Deal Sheet

[DMJA]

Hello,

I have an accepted offer and the buyers agent was concerned that the deal sheet I wrote only included the commission given to the buyers agency, rather than included the commission given to both brokers. This agent was aware of the commission being offered on this property to the buyers' agent. I explained that I had a contractual agreement to give that amount, and that it is on the RLS and is a co-broke, but that I am taking on the showings and negotiations due to my agreement with the listing agency.

This broker is stating that he will not move forward with the listing without seeing confirmation of what I am paying to the listing agency, as they see my relationship with the agency as an FSBO and claim they would only work with an FSBO for a higher percentage. I am not sure how to proceed, as I know that the listing agency would prefer that such information not be revealed. I have separately emailed the listing agency with this question, as it concerns their reputation, but I know sometimes those questions get shifted to this forum, so I thought I would ask here as well.

Please advise!

[aslan]

This is a great question. There is zero need for listing brokers to share their private listing agreements with cooperating brokers (i.e. buyer's agents). It is completely non-industry standard to request this to begin with, as the contents of a listing agreement are completely confidential. It would be akin to asking your competitors for their in-house trade secrets.

Secondly, you need to remind them that you're not listing FSBO. Is sounds like you're using Hauseit's Agent Assisted FSBO listing service, which means your property is listed with a traditional brokerage firm that is a member of the MLS (REBNY RLS in NYC).

Remember that your listing broker is contractually co-broking on your behalf in the MLS/RLS, and thus are bound by rules on co-broking (i.e. in NYC REBNY requires listing brokers to co-broke at at least 50% in favor of cooperating brokers). Check out the REBNY Universal Co-Brokerage Agreement that all participating broker members are required to sign before joining the RLS for yourself.

So in short, no I've never heard of a request like this being made by a buyer's agent, as it's egregious. They're getting paid 2.5% or 3%, what are they complaining out? Trying to insult the listing broker by pretending that they think it's FSBO? And daring to ask for a copy of the listing agreement. I recommend just copying the partner broker if you have any issues.