Percentage Offered to Buyers' Agents

[AGM]

Question for the fellow sellers who are doing the Agent Assisted FSBO: what % are you offering to buyers' agents?

I understand that one of the advantages of using an Agent Assisted FSBO is to avoid "giving away" the information that the listing is a FSBO. However, if I chose 0% or a very low %, wouldn't it give away that information and cause the "boycotting"?

How have sellers dealt with this question in the past? What's the minimum commission for buyers' agents that won't drive away agents? Have people been successful in choosing 0% and effectively attracting self-represented buyers?

P.S. To Hauseit customer service: feel free to weigh in!

[lemayday]

Question for the fellow sellers who are doing the Agent Assisted FSBO: what % are you offering to buyers' agents?

I understand that one of the advantages of using an Agent Assisted FSBO is to avoid "giving away" the information that the listing is a FSBO. However, if I chose 0% or a very low %, wouldn't it give away that information and cause the "boycotting"?

How have sellers dealt with this question in the past? What's the minimum commission for buyers' agents that won't drive away agents? Have people been successful in choosing 0% and effectively attracting self-represented buyers?

P.S. To Hauseit customer service: feel free to weigh in!

The percentage you to offer to buyer's agents should be a function of how 'challenging' your sale is going to be! Do you live in a generic, 200 unit building in Midtown which has 10 other listings competing with yours? If so, you should probably offer the highest possible buyer agent commission so you can differentiate your listing and attract maximum represented buyers. You NEED buyer agents to advocate for your listing over competing units.

Alternatively, is your listing a charming 1br in the West Village priced under $600k with ridiculously low maintenance? In this case, there's probably only a few other listings competing with yours. Most buyers will probably find your listing online without the help of their buyers agents. You can definitely offer a lower buyer agent commission in this case!

[aslan]

I echo the sentiment above, however I would still say generally 2.5% is the minimum you should offer to buyers' agents in NYC. 3% is still preferred. At 2.5% buyers' agents may grumble to themselves, but will still show the property. However, once you start offering only 2% to buyers' agents then you will start seeing actual pushback. Literally have seen emails from agents saying they can't show for only 2%, or that their firm has a minimum of 2.5% at this price point etc.

With that said, what the commenter above said is generally true as well. I would also add that price is a big factor. If you slightly under price your property, you will have people fighting to see it anyway. It's all about price at the end of the day, so if you price it attractively, yes you can probably get away with less of a co-broke to buyer agents.

[AGM]

Thanks aslan and lemayday for your replies.

Two follow up questions:

(1) Is it possible to change the percentage offered to buyers' agents after you create a listing, or that percentage cannot be changed at all without taking the apartment out of the market?

(2) When you say slightly underprice, do you mean underprice relative to where good comps are actually selling or to where comps are listed (given that most deals are closing at a couple % discount over listed price)?