Save 2% On Your Home Purchase

Hauseit gives buyers two-thirds (⅔) of the buyer agent commission as a rebate at closing. The exact rebate amount depends on how much commission the seller is offering and the buyer’s agreement with Hauseit.

Buyer agent commissions are usually around 3% of the purchase price, but they vary by listing. For example, some new construction condos in NYC and Miami offer commissions well in excess of 3%—often 4% to 7%—which means a buyer agent commission rebate from Hauseit can significantly exceed 2% of the purchase price.

Buyer agent commission rebates are legal in 40 states including New York, New Jersey and Florida. It’s legal for a buyer’s agent to offer a portion of their commission as an incentive, and it’s legal for buyers to receive such an incentive. In fact, former New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman released an open letter to the real estate community on April 20th, 2015 urging all parties to take advantage of such home buyer closing credit programs and incentives.

In addition to the letter referenced above, The New York Department of State, Division of Licensing Services also speaks to the legality of rebates on this page, a excerpt of which is reproduced below:

Can brokers pay rebates to customers and offer other incentives?

The payment of cash or offering an incentive to encourage a consumer to do business with a broker is permitted.  The Real Property Law prohibits brokers from sharing commissions with unlicensed individuals.  It is often misinterpreted as prohibiting the payment of cash or offering another business generating incentive to a consumer. This law prohibits a broker from sharing a commission as compensation for activity that would require a real estate license.

Ten states currently ban commission incentives offered by the buyer’s agent. Nine of these states have a full ban in effect due to strong real estate broker lobbying efforts: Alabama, Alaska, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Tennessee. The tenth state, Iowa, prohibits any such incentives when there are two or more real estate brokers on a transaction.

All property types qualify for a commission rebate from Hauseit, including condos, co-ops, condops, new construction, sponsor units, brownstones (townhouses), single-family homes, multi-family properties, or any other building or land that is listed for sale.

We can offer you a buyer agent commission rebate on any property in the areas of New York, New Jersey, and Florida where we operate, regardless of who the listing agent is, and even if another agent originally introduced you to the property.

Hauseit offers buyer agent commission rebates in NYC and nearby New Jersey areas (Hudson, Essex, and Union Counties), in addition to Long Island, Westchester and the Hudson Valley, the Hamptons, and South Florida.

All home types qualify for a commission rebate, including condos, co-ops, condops, brownstones (townhouses), multi-family houses, single-family homes or any other building or land that is listed for sale.

Hauseit’s buyer broker commission rebate program for home buyers is available in all of the following areas:

• NYC: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island

• NJ: Hudson, Essex, and Union Counties

• Long Island: Nassau County & Suffolk County (including the Hamptons)

• Hudson Valley: Westchester County & adjacent areas

• South Florida: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin and Saint Lucie counties

Hauseit offers buyer agent commission rebates throughout Hudson County, NJ, including Jersey City, Hoboken, Bayonne, Union City, North Bergen, West New York, Secaucus, Weehawken, Guttenberg, Kearny, Harrison, and East Newark.

All NJ property types qualify for a commission rebate from Hauseit, including condos, new developments, townhouses, multi-family properties, single-family homes, land, and any other home listed for sale.

Hauseit offers buyer agent commission rebates on properties in the South Florida counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin and Saint Lucie. All property types qualify, including condos, freestanding homes, new construction or any other building or land that is listed for sale.

Hauseit regularly represents discerning buyers with budgets of $5 million or more. In addition to traditional apartment resales, our experience and expertise in the luxury segment extends to luxury new development condos, townhouses as well as prestigious (and strict) New York City co-op buildings.

Hauseit has an extensive track record representing buyers on new construction projects. Our partner brokers are intimately familiar with the additional nuances of negotiating the purchase of a new construction home in addition to the special risks and procedural aspects of buying into a new development compared to a traditional purchase.

In some markets like New York, new development buyer closing costs are considerably higher than for a traditional resale, but many of the additional buyer closing costs, such as NYC & NYS Transfer Taxes and sponsor attorney fees, can be adeptly negotiated by working with an experienced buyer’s broker.

Additional closing costs which may negotiable in the case of a new development purchase include the Mansion Tax, the Mortgage Recording Tax, common charge and/or property tax credits, parking, storage, unit improvements, residential manager apartment contribution or even gym memberships!

Yes. All our brokers have extensive track records representing buyers on townhouses throughout NYC, including both single-family and multi-family homes. Our partner brokers are intimately familiar with the additional nuances of buying a townhouse including the potential renegotiation of deal terms based on the findings of a pre-contract home inspection.

Hauseit has secured hundreds of successful NYC co-op board approvals since 2014, across a wide range of buildings in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens — including some of the most conservative co-op boards in New York City — with price points ranging from well over $8 million to $200k.

We bring deep, practical expertise to every step of the co-op buying process in NYC, particularly at the offer stage. In addition to comps and pricing analysis, we evaluate building financial requirements, permitted purchasing structures, and general co-op policies early in the process, so expectations are clear and your offer can be structured in a way that maximizes the odds of board approval.

We also provide building-specific insight into how a co-op’s rules affect ownership in practice. This includes analyzing a building’s sublet policy, flip tax, and reviewing building documents such as the alteration agreement to help you understand the board’s relative level of red tape for renovations versus other buildings. Our holistic analysis provides you with a clear, comparative understanding of what life in a particular building will be like versus other co-ops you may be considering.

We are highly experienced in preparing NYC co-op board packages and in positioning applicants to maximize the odds of board approval by aligning with each board’s policies and preferences and by portraying buyer-specific circumstances in the most positive light. This includes preparing co-op board applications with self-employment income, inconsistent income histories or recent job changes, non-standard purchasing structures, recent divorce, and gifting — all areas NYC co-op boards commonly scrutinize.

We also have extensive experience working with NYC co-op managing agents, particularly the designated transfer agents who administer co-op board packages. At many of the largest management firms, there is often a single individual responsible for reviewing and coordinating submissions. Having completed numerous transactions with many of these individuals, we have personal knowledge of their working mannerisms and expectations, helping reduce delays and avoid unnecessary resubmissions after your board package is submitted.

In more challenging cases where a co-op board voices concerns about a buyer’s finances, we’ve successfully negotiated viable approval paths that allow transactions to move forward when a closing would otherwise be unlikely to materialize. We are also adept at navigating transactions where a co-op board takes issue with a perceived low sale price. In such scenarios, we facilitate discussions between the board and the parties’ attorneys to help move the transaction forward.

Hauseit has extensive experience with all types of HDFC co-ops in NYC, including Section 576 HDFCs, statutory income-cap HDFCs, and HDFCs governed by HPD regulatory agreements. We’re intimately familiar with HDFC income calculations and the nuances of buying an HDFC co-op, including situations where board approval is required prior to contract signing—which is the opposite of how it works for traditional co-ops. We represent both buyers and sellers of HDFC co-ops in NYC, which gives us a comprehensive, first-hand understanding of the HDFC transaction process from start to finish.

The NAR commission lawsuit settlement does not restrict sellers from paying commission to a buyer’s agent, nor does it prohibit buyer agent commission rebates. Sellers continue to overwhelmingly pay buyer agent commissions. This means that requesting a buyer agent commission rebate is still the most effective way for you to save money and lower your closing costs when purchasing a home. For more detailed thoughts on how the NAR settlement impacts the buyer agent commission rebate landscape in NYC specifically, refer to this article.

The IRS has issued an opinion letter stating that closing credits and commission incentives provided by real estate brokers are generally not taxable. As a result, you should not expect a 1099 to be issued to you as your commission rebate will generally be treated as a concession on price, and thus a reduction of your cost basis. Please consult your tax adviser for more information. You can also view the specific IRS rule we referenced here.

After your introductory call with our team, we will assign you an agent who will be your main point of contact throughout the process. We assign agents based on best fit and proximity to where you’re likely to transact.

We are confident that you will be happy with the agent we assign; however, if for whatever reason you wish to be assigned a different agent, please contact us right away so we can assign you another agent.

Yes. Our experienced brokers will be there for you throughout your search, offer, contract and closing process. If you’re busy, our partner brokers can search for listings and schedule viewings on behalf, and even put together showing tours for you when you’re free for a day.

You can expect only a simple agreement to be sent to you for e-signature detailing the terms of your buyer agent commission rebate. This agreement is non-exclusive in nature, and serves to protect you by clarifying the terms of your payment.

All brokers in NYC are also required to send you various state mandated disclosure forms such as the NY Agency Disclosure Form and the NYS Fair Housing and Anti-Discrimination Disclosure Form. These government mandated disclosure forms are not contracts and you are not required to sign many of them.

There are no hidden fees. In fact, you don’t owe us or our partner brokers anything at all because buyer’s agents typically get paid from a split of the total listing commission, which is covered by the seller. This means the seller pays both the listing and buyer’s agent commissions. If you forgo working with a buyer’s agent, the listing agent usually keeps the entire commission, so neither you nor the seller save any money.

If the seller isn’t paying a buyer agent commission, we won’t be able to provide you with a commission rebate. You can either submit an offer directly to the listing agent, or if you’d still like us to represent you as your buyer’s agent, we can work out a reasonable fee that you would pay for our services.

Keep in mind that the buyer agent commission varies by listing, and commissions are not set by law or any Realtor® association or MLS and are fully negotiable.

Yes. As long as you haven’t signed an Exclusive Right to Represent Agreement, you’re free to switch representation at any time. In fact, if you’re ever asked to sign an exclusivity agreement, you should run! It’s very rare for anyone but the occasional foreign buyer who is heavily dependent on their local representative to have an exclusive buyer’s agent.

No problem. You have the right to choose to work with the agent of your choice at any time. However, it’s important to loop in your buyer’s agent prior to making an offer, and certainly before you have an accepted offer. If you decide to enlist a buyer’s agent after you already have an accepted offer, then it’s usually too late for your buyer’s agent to be the procuring cause of the transaction and eligible for commission.

To get started, simply copy your buyer’s agent on an email to the listing agent explaining that you’ve decided to enlist the services of a buyer’s agent for your purchase. You can explain that you’ve done a lot of research and realized that you needed someone to guide you through the process who only works for you.

It depends. If you’ve already submitted an offer directly with the listing agent or through another buyer’s agent, then it may be too late. It will be hard for our partner broker to be the procuring cause of the sale, and thus eligible for commission, if your offer has already been accepted.

However, it’s not too late if your offer was rejected or if you plan on making a new offer with different terms, whether it be on the same property or a different property.

If you’re intent on purchasing a specific property that you’ve already submitted an offer on, sometimes the best bet is to not counter back or withdraw, and come back some time later with your buyer’s agent to submit a new offer.

If the seller isn’t paying a buyer agent commission, we won’t be able to provide you with a commission rebate. You can either submit an offer directly to the listing agent, or if you’d still like us to represent you as your buyer’s agent, we can work out a reasonable fee that you would pay for our services.

Yes. Customers who prefer to be more independent are free to continue searching for listings online and attending open houses on their own. In fact, we encourage this for buyers who are earlier in their search.

Please list your buyer agent’s contact information on open house sign-in sheets so listing agents know you’re represented. A further benefit of doing so is you won’t be added to newsletters and mailing lists.

Once you’ve found a few places you’re serious about, please let your buyer’s agent know so they can schedule any follow-up showings and submit any offers on your behalf.

Use our NYC buy vs. rent calculator to compare renting and buying in New York City.