Can real estate agents charge buyers per showing?

Real Estate News, Teaching Real Estate Agents / By

For many agents, having their clients pay-per-showing is an absolute dream. Especially when you dive deep into the gas money, mileage on the car, and even the value of an agent’s time.

Spending the money to show 8 homes to a serious client is no problem for many agents. It’s when the home showing count starts to add up to over 10 and the client is starting to be flakey. That’s when it would be nice to charge per home showing.

Table Of Contents
  1. Why would an agent charge per showing?
  2. How common is it for an agent to charge for showings?
  3. Can real estate agents charge buyers per showing?

Why would an agent charge per showing?

Real estate agents wouldn’t charge every buyer for home showings. However, certain types of clients are a good fit for paying for their showings. This could be because the client would like to be unrepresented, the drives are too far, or for other various reasons.

Who is a good fit to pay for their own home showings?

  • Institutional investors that are deal picking and typically see 30 homes before they commit
  • Friends and family that want to see a home in an area that you don’t cover, but are licensed in
  • Someone who asks you to see a house, but doesn’t want representation
  • The client is on their 20th showing and the home price is too low for you to trade off your time for the commission

How common is it for an agent to charge for showings?

This practice only became common quite recently. The new expectation of having the clients charged for home showings, was revolutionized and made easier by Showami. They’ve taken the concept and made it easier for clients to request home showings and pay for them through their Showami Client Portal.

Additionally, consumers have become wiser to the fact that they’d like to see homes unrepresented. This is in an effort to either bypass a real estate agent later or because they fear committing to a particular agent. Most agents don’t want to show a potential too many homes without representation, so the two parties typically come to an agreement where the clients will help pay for showings.

Finally, some clients understand that their demand for home showings is rather high and don’t mind paying for home showings. This has led to a number of potential buyers, asking to compensate for homes they are being shown.

Can real estate agents charge buyers per showing?

A real estate agent pondering if they can charge their clients per home showing

Yes, however, the agent must be upfront about the charges and they must remain consistent. The last thing you want to do is present your client with an invoice for home showings when they never agreed to pay for showings in the first place. Acting this way is both unethical and does not sit well with your home buyers.

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