Today I learned a valuable lesson...

I think it is really ood lesson to learn. But don't feel upset, because you have a value lesson. You have to see a good way ah. I have many lessons when i have been worked (I'm off now because I pregnant 8 months :). One of my best lesson is you have to confirm and clear everything you do, understand your tasks "DO NOT ASSUME". It will kill you when the task is not complete because of your assume, you can not blame anyone except you.

That is such a shame. I was a Realtor for 11 years but in our office when we shared an open house the listing Realtor always gave the person who helped a percentage of the commission, usually $100, for helping if the sale was a result of the open house. Being a Realtor is both a mixture of pleasure and pain and very stressful. Just remember one thing. There are peaks and valleys and above anything don't let the valleys get you down and enjoy the peaks.

First of all, wachit14, congratulations on joining our ranks! I hope you will have a long and very fruitful career. I got my license in April 1992, and through the years I have found that there are a lot of things that can trip you up on the road to that commission cheque! If I can help another newbie Realtor to make sense of the often confusing (and unreal!) area of commission splits and how to negotiate for getting what is owed to you, just yell. Now: here in Ontario, we now have buyer agency. There are two ways to be a buyer agent. One is with a buyer representation agreement (buyer is a CLIENT and is tied to you exclusively for a period you both agree on. Your duty of care is highest with this type of agency relationship, and includes requirements of nondisclosure of any fact unauthorized by the client). Two is with a customer agreement (buyer is a CUSTOMER who is not tied to you exclusively--only on the deals you bring/negotiate for him/her). How you get paid you have to negotiate right at the time of signing. You can opt to be paid by the Vendor or opt to be paid by the Buyer. Don't forget to have the percentage or amount and the timeframe you get paid IN WRITING, otherwise you will be whistling for your money! As for open houses: our office regularly pages out to us requests from our co-agents to do open houses for them (or even to babysit their listings while they are on holiday). In cases like this, if the walk in client has NO agent (they have to say when they enter the open house if they have an agent or not), then that walk in buyer will be yours if they do buy that listing. You are, in effect, a co-op agent for that buyer. You may have to disclose at time of preparing the offer that the brokerage you belong to has the listing, so you will be involved in what is termed double agency. If they have an agent, then your colleague gives you a referral fee, which is 30% (depends on your office/arrangement with your co-agent) out of his/her side of the commission paid. If the walk in client without an agent does not buy that listing, and I am the one who is running the open house for my co-agent, it is understood that that walk in is mine (but of course you have to make that clear IN WRITING before you do the open house). Actually, doing open houses for other agents is a way of starting out your own career, but make sure you do not get bulldozed in the process. Never assume, especially when it comes to commissions. The agents who have been in the business may be nice, but the top earners did not get there by being poor negotiators (even with their own colleagues)! There is an excellent text on buyer agency. Title is Buyer Agency--Your competitive edge in real estate, by Gail Lyons and Don Harlan. Publisher is Dearborn (Real Estate Education) and the ISBN is 0-7931-2674-6. Read, read, read. Ask, ask, ask, and always get agreements in writing especially when it involves your commission cheque. That bit of paper is how I pay my mortage, clothe myself and my kids, and put food on the table. Don't get hoodwinked out of your hard earned paycheque. Good luck, wachit14, don't be shy, I'm here for you. Blessings....:-D

That's not true! Not unless the laws are different where you live. If you represent the buyer, you should get half the commission! That's how it works here and I can't imagine it would be different in new york. The seller pays the full commission, but the realtor representing the buyer and the realtor representing the seller split the commission. Have you checked up on the situation since you've posted this? Why would a buyers agent show a property if they weren't going to collect a commission?

Well that is a real bummer. I'm so sorry, but like you said you learned from it. My sister just bought a new house it was a 262k home. The sellers were so over their heads they walked away from the deal with a 1500.00 check. Their real estate agent got a big fat 0.......I think it was so selfish of those people it just blows my mind. It was a mother son team that sold the house so I am hoping that his mom will share her earnings with him. It's funny because those people were so far in debt but my sister didn't even have to sell her current home to buy a new one. It's paid for. So we have been busy fixing it up and getting it ready for the market. I just pray it sells fast, The last house they sold was on the market for 9 days. Lets hope the past will repeat its self. Good luck to you in your new job. I hope that you will enjoy it for many years, and that you will be a great success.

I have got a good idea from live: speak less,and do more things.

real estate agents are very very territorial about their listings. which is why I'm sure that your company instilled a policy such as you describe. otherwise agents would be stealing listings and getting into petty pisshing contests over other agents stealing their listings. and I am sure that you can understand why you're supposed to ask ahead of time that is how things are done so that everybody's cards are on the table and no one feels as though their commissions have been hijacked. sorry you didn't know the policies sooner, when you start showing your own listings and some new kid on the block tries to sell one of your listings I am sure that you will appreciate this policy.

I have learned something in worj from home trial. I spent some money and was lucky enough to some of it back but learned a lesson how to detect the scammers out there on the net. This kind of many lessons I learned which now help me do better than what i did in past.

Life is the most useful book we've read