As a home buyer is it possible to avoid the seller from having to pay commission to their seller agent?

I am a real estate agent in Texas since 1978. I never market a property without having a binding contract in place that would allow me to get paid if the property sells during a certain time period.

I get no money up front and none per hour. I only get paid when and if the property sells. In my contract it says that when the contract ends I can give the seller a list of names and those people would be "protected" an additional 90 days beyond the listing. This allows me to continue working and spending time and money right up until the last second of the listing and know that if any of these people buy the house I will get paid.

The whole system is pretty risky for the agent- and that is one of the reasons the compensation may seem high. I don't really think anyone would want to pay me per hour or any other way when I am not successful- so I think this is a pretty good system.

The marketing efforts are pretty widely spread so I never know who has been attracted by them- so I could never be sure that you did not notice this house thru my efforts.

Yes, the seller needs to pay the broker/realtor no matter what. They have an agreement.

In regards to your comment that "guess the only way is to get in contact with the seller and wait till the contract with the agent expires" This is NOT going to work. There is always a clause in the listing agreement that the agent is STILL due the commission for a set period of time (usually 6 months), if the seller sells to a buyer that came in during the listing period - JUST SO THIS TYPE OF CRAP DOESN"T HAPPEN.

What you are wanting to do is dishonest - and I hope that as a business major you don't plan to carry this type of practice to your career.

I will also add that if the seller has a contract with an agent, and you two make a deal to sell after waiting for the contract to expire, the seller may STILL owe the agent that commission, since you two would be deliberately acting in such a way as to deprive them of something that was contractually agreed upon. So that won't work either. Furthermore, if the seller has contracted with an agent to sell the home, one of the reasons is that they think that they can get a better price since they have better data to work with, and they have someone to deal with the hassles and legalities involved in selling a place. I, personally, would not give that up in order to LOWER the price for a buyer!

If you don't want to deal with agents, then look at FSBO (for sale by owner) properties. You may get a better price. You may not.

The seller must ALWAYS pay the commission agreed to in the listing contract, unless the listing agent somehow agrees to take a lesser commission. The seller uses a listing agent for various reasons. Amongst those reasons are the advertising provided and the professional assistance provided by the listing agent. When under a listing contract, the seller always pays the commission in the contract, regardless of how the buyer was eventually discovered.

Most sellers hire a Realtor to protect their investment, if they wanted to sell FSBO, they would have done so. The seller enters a contract to pay the commission and this is paid when the transaction closes. Sellers typically factor the cost of commission into their price, but that does not mean that they are not willing to negotiate.

Do you want to work and not get paid? But that is what you are trying to do here. I hope that the seller refers your sorry self to their agent and slams the door in your face.

the seller has to pay the commision because thats how the real estate agent makes money. if he doesnt get commision then whats the point of selling the house. the only way to avoid that fee is it the seller sells the home privately and finds a buyer/does all the work themself then they dont need an agent

A buyer has no say in the contractual agreement between the seller and the seller's agent. That agreement is none of their business.

They have to pay or there is no way the title will convey.

The commission is one set amount, it is split between the 2 agents.

FSBO transactions are rare I think, where no realtors are used. realtors are a good tool because they refer you to loan people and do all the underwriting dirty work. at least mine did. who cares if the seller pays the commission or not, just make an offer and it'll either be accepted or rejected.