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Can a seller offer an agent a monetary incentive beyond their commission?

Can a seller tell his listing agent to offer other agents a monetary bonus, in addition to their regular commission, as an incentive to find prospective buyers. The seller will pay the bonus at closing. Is this ethical / legal, typically done? Seems like a bribe to me. Also, in the best interest of the seller, the prospective buyer should not be aware of this monetary bonus/incentive. Correct?

Public Comments

1. .Absolutely Yes! As long as the monies received go through the agents broker and are disbursed accordingly. It is not a bribe, commission is incentive and so are bonuses at the owners discretion
2. A seller can offer a bonus to selling agent, but it must be disclosed (and will be on the closing statement - in Texas). Builders offer these BTSA's all the time in Houston to give buyer's agents an incentive to show their homes.
3. Yes you can do that! Offering 4% to a buyers agent is not that uncommon. The best agents always show their clients the homes that pay 4% commission to the buyers agent first for obvious reasons. Sometimes you can put in a clause also that says something like 2k bonus for a full asking price offer.
4. You can offer a bonus, or a higher commission on the MLS. In Texas, you cannot make the bonus contingent upon anything other than selling the house - for example, you cannot put "2K bonus for full price offer". Commissions are not set, but it's not hard to figure out what the averages are in any given market. And I'd never thought that "the BEST agents always show their buyers the houses with the higher commissions", I always thought that fell to the "easiest to buy-off agents". But I do recognize that MANY agents will show a listing because of the higher commission offered - for this reason, I do recommend a higher commission (my side stays the average) be offered to the buyer's agent when I take a listing. On the flip-side, I've sold many good deals to my buyers because there was no competition for a house that offered a less than average commission. I made less on that kind of transaction, but all their friends and relatives want me as their Realtor later - so I make more for that transaction.