I'm BACK! And have you heard of buyer agent bonuses?

Well, life takes some funny turns. My pet project, FSBOLawCenter, has turned out to be significantly more complicated than I imagined. Go figure. It turns out that an internet business requires time and effort. I'll take this as my dotcom baptism. Plus, I still get traffic to this page. So, my latest revelation is that I should continue -- er, resume -- posting on this page. I'll be interspersing FSBO issues with posts more related to litigation, whether against another party to the contract or against an agent who failed to perform adequately/appropriately. The more I practice in this field, the more I learn about some fairly shady practices in the real estate business. This blog will be a good place to explore on an occasional basis.

So, to kick things off: did you know that, in this rapidly evolving buyers' market, it is not uncommon for sellers to offer "bonuses" directly to buyers' agents? It's true -- here's a lengthy post on the issue. These bonuses can take many forms, the most odious of which is the "full price offer" bonus. With such a bonus, a seller offers to pay a specific sum (perhaps $1k) directly to a buyer's agent if the agent procures a full priced offer.

What's the problem? Well, the agent has a duty to the client buyer to at least disclose any conflict of interest. In the current market, any particular property may be overpriced (even more likely if they have to offer extra money for a full price offer). In those situations, the buyer's agent presumably does not tell the client the property is overpriced, because the agent directly benefits from a full price offer. Pretty ridiculous -- and something you will avoid if you hire an attorney to draft the offer (although, to be fair, the attorney may be less of an "expert" in regards to valuation to begin with). If you paid full price for your home recently, and if you live in WA, give me a call to figure out whether or not you overpaid to your agent's benefit.