“How open do you think most agents will be with an offer that rebates the buyer’s commission back to the seller?”
You lost me here. Why would the buyers commission be rebated back to the seller? There is no rebate because there is no commission paid.
Lets reset the case okay? Lets say you are a buyer and you are not represented. You wanna buy the home. Submit an offer, make it say 2.5%-3% below asking price. Simple as that isn’t it? You are representing yourself so there is no commission to discuss.
“Can the offer specify that since the commission is agreed upon by the seller and their agent before the buyer ever enters the picture?”
The commission agreed upon by the seller and his listing agent is applicable to compensate other brokers only. If you are not a broker or an agent under the employ of a broker there is nothing that applies to you, an unrepresented buyer. Again, keep it simple and ask 2.5-3% below asking price. Commission cannot be mentioned in the contract
“Would the seller’s agent be likely to discourage the seller from taking such an offer, since a buyer without an agent is likely to be seen as a negative by the seller’s agent, and if you’re rebating the commission to the seller, what’s in it for the agent?”
Okay part 1, every broker differs. Would a broker be wary of working with a buyer who is not represented? Yes. Why? Because that broker incurs additional liability. If you the buyer screw up the broker may be held liable because you were not a real estate professional and though your screw up is of no fault to the other broker, he/she may be still held liable for YOUR mistake. Again the reticence has nothing to do with anything else. Please please please try to understand this, as an unrepresented buyer you get no commission. The selller pays no commission to you. The seller ONLY pays the listing agent the commission for listing the home. It is not like the seller pays the listing agent the commission to list the home AND the commission for the cooperating broker, and then gets the coop commission rebated back.
Now as a side note. Many people think they save money by going to an open house and working directly with the listing agent. In some cases this may be true, in some cases maybe not. In cases like this the listing agent becomes a dual agent. He represents both the seller as a listing agent and he represents you the buyer. He will receive his full commission to list the home and he will also receive the coop commission as well. Now he may have an agreement in place with the seller that if he does both sides, the coop commission will be reduced somewhat. Then again, he may not have it reduced at all.
“If the seller’s agent is not receptive to rebating the buyers commission back to the seller, isn’t the buyer then better off going with someone like redfin that will at least rebate some of the commission to the buyer?”
See explanation above. I don’t think this is an applicable question.
Cannot answer the questions about getting forms as I don’t have any idea.
