First Time Homebuyers — How To Cancel a Buyer Broker Agreement

So I'm here with Sahar Sahar is one of the top real estate agents in Houston Texas and one of the things that we talk about a lot is how can buyers cancel their buyer broker agreement if they don't like their agent whenever I get a panicked call from someone who signed like maybe they clicked a button online and then they ended up in with an agreement with someone they don't like I'm always calling Sahar saying Sahar what should they do so Sahar if someone signed these agreements the agent didn't go through it they don't trust the agent they don't feel like they're working from them they really don't want to work with them do they need to wait until the time period of the agreement ends or what would you do not at all first I will write an official email to the agent themselves and asking them to terminate all the relationship with them and a decent agent would not want a buyer to work with him if he's not pleased so there is to terminate yeah okay because everyone's going to want to know this in the email should they say you know hey Bob I want to cancel I want to terminate my agreement and have a reason or should they just say hey based on our experience of working together I would like to cancel I would like to terminate my agreement effective immediately please confirm AB absolutely keep it simple and general and then if they ask for reasons you can you know share why you want to cancel because they didn't do their job you know you're not satisfied with the service that you receiving simple and straightforward and the second thing I would say if that did not work every agent or let's just say most of the agents have Brokers you know unless they are their own broker reach out to the broker in charge because the agreement is between the client and the broker reach out to the broker and get that terminated and it's simple I mean so question so they're writing this initial email and I know that I would be going well wait how long should I wait for an agent to respond should I put in that email you know dear Bob based on our experience working together I want to terminate our buyer broker agreement please confirm within the next 48 hours we have a timeline 24 to 48 hours if they don't respond within your time time line reference then reach out to the broker I always say reach out to the broker because there's forms you can just terminate it from the broker it doesn't have to be involved with the agent just in case the agent was on vacation okay so the buyer could then take that email that they sent to the agent forward it to the broker they could figure out who the broker is by going online and looking at you know the name of the firm and who it like you just Google broker and then the name of the firm in this city and they could email it to them now what if the broker doesn't respond should they call them should they go to the state what would be your next step if the if this person's still getting ghosted so the person if they're getting ghosted most of the time you're not reaching to the appropriate people because brokerage a decent brokerage have people respond maybe you're just sending it to the wrong email address but maximum if they don't yes you can reach out to the stage but try all venues usually in your buyer broker agreement or anything you sign you're going to see the contact for the broker himself you know phone numbers emails make sure you review those when we are signing anything we need to read those documents we need to read you know in details what the terms of that contract and the same thing at the end if you're not happy you go back to that same broker agreement and you'll see the broker information contact them and make sure you get in touch on a phone call if you can't go in person or the email you didn't see a response okay and you know a lot of people go oh I should just text this and I go don't text it because that's not if they say okay but then you go by a house with another person they could say they never really did that and they meant okay to something else so you really want this paper trail is there a special magical form that people have to fill to get out in Texas in Texas we do have one so the email might be official but I would recommend them getting the termination from the broker like it's called buyer tenant termination with the broker and get that signed and that once that is signed that midnight your relationship is done with that agent and that broker so I'm not sure in other states research but in Texas we do have a form form and just to lock all ends make sure you terminate that so because you know and I think a lot of people don't recognize this but if for instance let's say that someone their agent was just terrible it happens and they're like well I don't want to work with them I signed this agreement but I'm just going to start working with this person what happens if they start working with a new agent but they haven't terminated this agreement so what happens on the buyer if you read the terms on the buyer agreement it says hey if I'm serving you it can come back and hunt you I'm serving you I'm helping you buy a house and you owe me a certain percentage of commission and they go buy another the house with another agent if the agent wants he can come back and say hey I'm the procuring cause so I'm going to charge you commission so they're going to come after you to get the commission so make sure you don't leave Loose Ends before starting a relationship make sure you end the other relationship that's my advice to all buyers okay so generally like if someone let's say someone was like Sahar we don't Vibe and you get that email how would you respond would you be like be your best friend yeah I would ask them what you know what happened because I want to do better for the next client if there's something going on there uh but at the end of the day I don't want to work with anybody that doesn't want to work with me that's just me I want to work with people that really value my expertise and value what I bring to the table so if they're not happy for what whatever reason I wish them the best of luck on their journey and I'll tell them if anything changes I'll be here for you there is no hurt feelings and I think that's a great way and I think what I see more of is I'll see truly terrible agents where they're like you can't cancel this it's impossible you're going to have to wait so I think it's important for buyers to know like hey that's not accurate but of course make sure you're reading the terms of these agreements because you and I were just talking about how some agents have started putting in a termination fee ABS is that correct absolutely some people are starting to put that and to protect themselves and you know there's a lot of time that takes sometimes years for a buyer to buy a house so all that time spent they're trying to protect yourself and I think to understand or talk about it more you need to see hey how much did that agent invest in you is it is he worth that termination fee or not and always try to F you know I don't want to say fight it but try to just be reasonable we all are here trying to make a living so if they have put you know an effort they have a termination for you maybe it's worth their time if you don't see it's worth their time you know you can go talk to them or their broker and try to reach a resolution that everybody is happy yeah and we talked about in an earlier video you know three things you would look for in a buyer's agent and one of them was experience because the one thing I think about when I think about a termination fee is I go you know if someone hasn't sold a house in a year and they're trying to charge 500 bucks if I terminate like why would I ever sign that to begin with you know Absolut value usually even in real estate we value our time depending on how much we have produced you know and then we divide that by 12 and then divide it by four and then how much time we work in the week and that's how we know how much time our time is worth like a lawyer you go to a lawyer some some people charge you 300 for a consult some people charge you 500 every agent will have their own value if they really know what they're doing so if they have that termination make sure to research them see do they match what production they have you know if they're putting a termination because you might see it you might start seeing it more often I've never done it but you might start seeing it more often oh wor so so I've seen it so the only time I've I've actually seen it is when people really dislike the agent I'm not kidding they like they come to me and they're like I'm trapped in this horrible relationship I haven't seen it in Texas yet so they're trapped in this horrible relationship and I look at the agent and they do no business but there's this big termination fee and I'm like this person's just a con and that's that's what I was gonna say like I know you don't charge a termination fee and it's because you do so much work upfront before they even sign that agreement that the buyer has a good idea if they're actually gonna want to work with you 100% goes back to the buyer consult if they're not reading that buyer not explaining to you that buyer um rep that's a red flag you know if they're not telling you hey what are you signing you know that's a red flag so you need to make sure you do the buyer consult in person on zoom on the phone however you want to do it whatever style go through all the timelines the goals and then all your responsibility and the agent's commitment to you you know and that by agreement is very important that you guys have a understanding about it before you even sign it right so I mean here's here's what I'm getting from this video and I hope this is the takeway people are getting guys if you already signed one of these agreements you're not doomed you know there are procedures to get out because the last thing anyone wants is for you to be trapped with a terrible agent you know but the bigger point is make sure you're actually spending time with the agent and you're interviewing them and they're talking with you about this agreement before you ever sign it because then you're not going to end up having to go through the termination process 100% And ask questions ask all the questions if you feel uncomfortable you know take the time to get comfortable with that person you want to work with somebody that you trust and they trust you it's a two-way street so they need to trust you you need to trust them for that to be a win-win situation for both of you 100 per. okay well look Sahar I know you are very busy and I appreciate you taking the time to come on thank you for explaining that because I'm getting the calls where people are feeling trapped so I'm glad you are able to offer them some hope so appreciate you always people Sahar is one of the top real estate agents in Houston reach out to her um she can really help you get home thank you Sahar you're welcome