“$2,000 bonus to Realtor at closing.”
–Excerpt, “Agent Remarks” section of MLS listing
Most Realtors (at least the ones I know) are bottom line-oriented.
So, is “goosing” the payout offered to Buyers’ agents a good way to move a listing faster and/or for more money?
In my experience, yes — up to a point.
It’s also the case that sales incentives work best when they’re in addition to strong staging, marketing, pricing, etc. — vs. a substitute (or worse) for those things.
Instead of — 0r in Addition to?
When nearby homes are offering a 2.7% payout, dangling a 3.15% payout can certainly get Realtors’ — and therefore their clients’ — attention.
But at best, that simply increases the likelihood that the home will be shown.
What happens next depends on the home — specifically, how well it shows, updates (or not), floor plan — not to mention list price.
Sellers can “incent” Buyers’ agents all they want, but if their home is overpriced and under-prepped . . . it’s not going to help.
On the contrary, whenever I see an eye-popping sales incentive — a cash bonus, airplane tix, etc. — offered in the “Agent Remarks” field on MLS (not visible to clients), my knee-jerk assumption is that the Seller is trying to compensate for one (or more) shortcomings.
P.S.: my policy with Buyers is to show them everything I see — including the “payout” being offered by the Seller.
