I’ve been searching for a home for the past few months and I found a new build that I like but wouldn’t be completed till October. Seeing as the inventory is moving insanely fast and prices of homes in my city seem to be skyrocketing week after week, my agent told me that it if I liked the home and lot that we were looking at that I should put down the earnest money ($500) that day. I asked him if I would be able to back out if I changed my mind later and he assured me that at most I would lose out on the earnest money. To me this seemed like a decent way of buying myself time to decide on this home and look out for others/see how the market changes between now and October with the only risk being losing out on the earnest money. So I put down the earnest money and signed the contract from the builder which stated that I could back out before closing but would only lose the earnest money.
The next day my agent sent me a buyer agreement that seems pretty standard but I noticed that the agreement states that the agent’s fees are earned after I’ve entered a contract with the seller (see screenshot).
So my question is, do I owe my real estate agent his stated fees no matter what now? He’s been very honest and upfront with me the past few months so I can’t imagine that he’d wait till now to play any games. TIA.Agent Contract Screenshot