Most of our sellers tend to be repeat clients.

But in this case, the homeowners had never heard of us when a mutual friend recommended they consider hiring the KRG to sell their home. They had already moved to Texas, and considered this to be their second home but weren’t getting back to town much.

Might as well sell it!

Even though it was immaculate and one of the most upgraded homes we’ve ever listed for sale, Donna still recommended staging. The sellers agreed, and by the time we hit the open market, the home looked perfect to me.

There must have been 200+ people that attended my open-house extravaganza, and at least a half-dozen of them told me that they would be submitting an offer. Usually about half of those who threaten to make an offer actually do it, so the count ended up being less than I expected.

It came down to the two top offers, and it was close.

It was so close that the buyer-agent commission was making a difference.

I’m sure most listing agents wouldn’t give it a thought, and just take the highest net.

But I didn’t think it was right that a buyer-agent could win a bidding war by lowballing their own commission rate. What are they going to do once they get into escrow? Would they make it to the finish line?

I’m a big believer in transparency, so I let the other agent know that she was going to lose due to the commission rate – and gave her a chance to do something about it.

She lowered her commission paid by my seller, and the buyers made up the difference.

In a close race, I’m hoping for the best agent to win to improve our chances of closing escrow because it is what’s best for my sellers. We had already completed the highest-and-best round, and there didn’t seem to be any gas left in the tank (neither buyer went up much from their original offer).

If we’re at max money, then, in my opinion, the next decision-maker is the quality and experience of the buyer-agent. My sellers agreed, and we closed successfully!