By Mark Leader
RISMEDIA, April 2, 2007-I've heard all the reasons against signing an Exclusive Right to Represent Buyer agreement. If those reasons were laid out end to end, they would reach from New York to California. And, not one of those reasons holds water for me.
The bottom line is that the agreement is as valuable for the agent as it is for the buyer. Why does an agent have to lose a commission payment or take a pittance of a payment in order to realize the value of the Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR) designation? When an agent participates in that program, he or she understands how to get buyers to sign the agreements and why they want to sign them once they understand what's in it for them.
According to agents, one of the overriding reasons why buyers don't want to sign the agreements is that they are going to have to agree to pay the buyer's representative all or part of his or her fee in the event that that fee is not coming from the selling side of the transaction.
When the agent has the skill and knowledge to handle that objection, 90% of the resistance is set aside. Here is a dialogue you can use to handle this objection:
"Mr. and Mrs. Buyer, as you can see from this agreement, my fee for services is ___%. In many instances, that fee is paid by the seller to me at the closing. However, if that does not happen, and any portion of this fee is not paid by the seller, it will revert to you to make up the shortfall.
"Of course, you will always be the one to decide if you want to pay my fee of not. Let me explain. Before we visit a property, I will tell you if any part of my fee is not covered by the seller. You might decide not to view properties where the seller does not cover the buyer agent fee in full. Of course, that may limit your ability to find the perfect home.
"If there is a portion of the fee that is not covered, and you decide to make an offer on such a property, we can make the offer subject to the seller paying my fee in full. If they do not agree, you can withdraw your offer and look elsewhere or choose to pay my fee from your funds. In any event, it will be up to you. There is simply no way that you are obligated under this system without prior knowledge of the outcome to you. That makes perfect sense, wouldn't you agree?"
Mark Leader is the president of Mark Leader Courses. For more information, please visit www.leaderschoice.com, or e-mail mail@leaderschoice.com.
