[Velvet]

The agent works for the person who pays them. Didn’t you in your work life? In some states there are buying agents who you promise to pay and work for you, exclusively. I did not see that here in TV. You as a buyer are on your own. Caveat emptor!

[vintageogauge]

Originally Posted by KRMACK55

Thank you for explaining this. I sold my house last month in the villages and my sales person did nothing. The buyers person did almost nothing. They represent the villages and selling clients services such as insurance, banking and their list of vested contractors. Additionally they do not review the closing process because they lack the knowledge. My advice would be to get an agent outside of the villages.

Then you would lose 70% of the buyers pool. If you didn't have anything go wrong with your transaction I would say that they did their job.

[RUOK2?]

Originally Posted by Velvet

The agent works for the person who pays them. Didn’t you in your work life? In some states there are buying agents who you promise to pay and work for you, exclusively. I did not see that here in TV. You as a buyer are on your own. Caveat emptor!

As mentioned above, usually there is no 'agent' in Florida residential real estate. A registered real estate broker/Realtor can be an agent. But they need not be.
Payment is not the controlling factor. Typically a Listing Contract obligates the owner/seller to pay a 5-6% listing fee to the listing broker.
That listing broker, by contract, then offers a 'split' to other participating brokers through the area Multi-List. That offer may include buyer agents, brokers even 'non-representatives'.
Unfortunately buyers are seldom told, and they never ask, "What is your Broker/Agent status with me?" So they think they have at least some small representation, when, in fact they have none!

[jmaccallum]

Originally Posted by Patents111

When looking for a pre-owned house in the Villages I’ll likely be dealing with a Realtor or a Villages agent. There might be some advantages to having a Realtor buyer’s agent helping me. But is there any advantage/disadvantage to having a Villages buyer’s agent? If the Villages agents are all on the same “team,” might their help be influenced by loyalty to each other than the buyer (me)? The parallel situation would be using a Realtor buyer’s agent in the same firm as the listing agent of a particular house.
Thanks for your comments.

In Florida, unlike other states, pretty much all agents work as “Transaction Brokers” facilitating only the transaction. In that respect, they represent neither the buyer nor the seller. Caveat Emptor.

[Laker14]

Originally Posted by Laker14

if you are buying a home listed on the MLS (these are the homes you can see on Trulia and Zillow) you can contract with an MLS agent, as long as he/she is not the listing agent of the home (in which case the agent is already contracted to be the sellers fiduciary ) and you can sign a contract with that person wherein that agent is YOUR fiduciary.
When you find your home, and buy it, your agent will be paid out of the sales commission.That is if, and only if, the home you buy is from the MLS.

If you buy a home listed by The Villages real estate (these are not on Trulia or Zillow, but can be seen on TheVillages.net), they share their sales commission with NOBODY.
However, you can contract with an agent, or an attorney, and pay them out of your pocket, as they will receive no sales commission, to have them look after YOUR interests, as opposed to the agent from The Villages Real Estate, who will be primarily obligated to look out for the sellers interests. Very often the buyer's and seller's interests don't conflict, but when and if they do conflict, the sellers agent must, by law, look after the seller's interests.

Originally Posted by KRMACK55

That simply is not the case. My house had a one month listing and they had a buyer so it took a half hour to sell. The sales person complained about her commission to me that she receives from the Villages and I told her I don’t care that is between her and the Morse family. From the 5% both buyer and seller agents got 1.5% each with villages getting 2%. Thats $8800 for half hour showing and never saw her again ! No one from the villages was at the closing or even assisted in the correction of the HUD stmt. Sadly they will say almost anything to get a sale. The only person who did a very good job was the title closer! I would never recommend or use them again. This is my 7th home closing and very disjointed. Good thing they don’t have to sell in the real world.

I'm having a little trouble following your post. Who did you list it with? The Villages or an MLS agent?
"They" had a buyer... who is "they"?
There was a buyer agent and a seller agent, and TV got 2%, with the buyer and seller agents splitting the 3% left over after a total commission of 5%.

Are you saying one of those two agents was NOT a Villages agent?

[Marlene36]

Originally Posted by Patents111

When looking for a pre-owned house in the Villages I’ll likely be dealing with a Realtor or a Villages agent. There might be some advantages to having a Realtor buyer’s agent helping me. But is there any advantage/disadvantage to having a Villages buyer’s agent? If the Villages agents are all on the same “team,” might their help be influenced by loyalty to each other than the buyer (me)? The parallel situation would be using a Realtor buyer’s agent in the same firm as the listing agent of a particular house.
Thanks for your comments.

13 years ago on our Lifestyles tour stay for the first visit, we opted to go out for a few hours with a Villages Agent, Angie Stokes, to view preowned furnished homes. We had no plans to buy, but wanted to check out what was out there. She followed our needs, did not push NEW, followed our specifications on what size, exposure, style, locations we made. In a few hours she showed us our PERFECT HOME. She negotiated an acceptable price for us and we were under contract by that Friday. Still here in our dream home, glad we decided to buy! Highly recommend Angie Stokes who works with TV Agents. NEVER PUSHY, VERY RESPONSIVE!

[Velvet]

Originally Posted by Marlene36

13 years ago on our Lifestyles tour stay for the first visit, we opted to go out for a few hours with a Villages Agent, Angie Stokes, to view preowned furnished homes. We had no plans to buy, but wanted to check out what was out there. She followed our needs, did not push NEW, followed our specifications on what size, exposure, style, locations we made. In a few hours she showed us our PERFECT HOME. She negotiated an acceptable price for us and we were under contract by that Friday. Still here in our dream home, glad we decided to buy! Highly recommend Angie Stokes who works with TV Agents. NEVER PUSHY, VERY RESPONSIVE!

She’s got someone eating out of her hands… that’s the way to make a sale, please forgive me, I tend to be a realist. But I prefer to work with someone who listens to how I’d like to spend my money too.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by Patents111

When looking for a pre-owned house in the Villages I’ll likely be dealing with a Realtor or a Villages agent. There might be some advantages to having a Realtor buyer’s agent helping me. But is there any advantage/disadvantage to having a Villages buyer’s agent? If the Villages agents are all on the same “team,” might their help be influenced by loyalty to each other than the buyer (me)? The parallel situation would be using a Realtor buyer’s agent in the same firm as the listing agent of a particular house.
Thanks for your comments.

Yes, they get paid.

[Teena Q]

Originally Posted by Papa_lecki

If you really want to be protected legally, use an attorney. The VLS Villages salespeople dont represent the buyer, they represent the Villages.

Couldn't agree more. Information is not freely given, i.e. comps, days on market, etc. Better to use an outside realtor. I wish I had.