Those who are looking to buy or sell a house tend to go with either a buyer’s or seller’s agent to conduct the real estate transaction. In today’s time, most home buyers and sellers are turning to transaction brokers. Instead of paying a commission to a traditional real estate agent to aid you to sell or locate a suitable real estate property and arrange all the legal paperwork, a broker transaction acts more like an assistant or counselor. For eventual buyers and sellers, what a transaction broker is may determine whether you should hire one for your needs or not.
What responsibilities does a transaction broker perform?
The responsibilities that a transaction broker perform are such as –
- Helps the buyer to prepare an offer on a house, similar to what a buyer’s agent does in this situation.
- Helps the seller to administer a competitive list price, similar to what a seller’s agent does in that situation.
- Facilitates buyer-seller communication, since they both are neutral agents.
- Help to write the contract to buy and sell for both parties.
- Assists with the closing for both the buyer and the seller.
When a transaction broker is helpful for an individual?
A transaction broker is a great benefit for an individual when neither the client require brokerage guidance to handle the transaction, but they do require their knowledge to benefit facilitate the deal. For example, if you plan to buy a family member’s home and have agreed on a price. But require advice on ensuring you have the correct contracts in place. Ultimately, broker transactions exist to make sure a sale is handled fairly.
If both parties have an agent, and you both agree to hire a transaction broker. This can potentially be a compelling way to save money and time for you both. However, this is only if the transaction broker is equally skilled at both the selling and buying sides. If they are experienced only at one side of the transaction, then the other party could have a disadvantage in this situation. If the agent works directly with the peculiar party and is skilled in that area. Then that agent can benefit that party with a more beneficial approach to the transaction.
Various benefits and risks if transaction brokers
One of the main benefits of broker transactions is that they tend to cost less as compared to traditional real estate agents. This is because these types of professionals do not have as much liability. Since they do not have any fiduciary responsibility toward any party in a real estate transaction. Transaction brokers are charged only for the services they needed. Whereas most transitional real estate agents endeavor all of their services whether or not they need these services or not.
The downside is that if anything goes wrong. Then the transaction broker is not held legally responsible for that as they have no fiduciary responsibility. They are not able to aid both the buyer and seller with all the situations since they cannot act as advocates for either party. If you are looking for someone to benefit you with negotiations, then you will need to hire a real estate agent.
Conclusion
Choosing to go with a broker transaction is not for everyone and may not be legal in your state. You need to consider whether it makes sense for both you and the other party to hire one. Make sure you are aware of the risks and that you may require to rely on some other professional to aid you in negotiating or advocating for yourself during the closing process.
FAQ’s
The commission that a transaction broker can make can range between $250.00 to $495.00 depending upon the brokerage and geographical location.
Transaction brokers are legal in most of the states, but not all. One can find transaction brokers in approx. 30 states, but most commonly in the states like Colorado and Florida, which were some of the states that first legalize transaction brokers in their state.
