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Additional transaction fee from our real estate agent (buyer) after going under contract?

We got connected to a real estate agent through a referral last month and very quickly found a house we liked and had our offer accepted. At the time, we asked him what we pay for his services and he said the seller would pay his fees and he "works for us for free". Our ratified contract has his compensation at 2.5%. We never signed a buyer's agreement with him at the time, and we're first time homebuyers so didn't understand this was a thing.

We're now more than a month under contract and he sent us a buyer's agreement (backdated to the day before we ratified) with his compensation listed as 2.5% + $499. He's saying this is a transaction fee that is charged by his brokerage and he has no control over this, but it's listed under his direct compensation and not a brokerage service fee.

Is this normal? It feels shady to be getting hit with an additional fee now a month after going under contract when it was not disclosed up front and we were told his compensation wasn't tied to us. This guy has generally been very disorganized and has come close to missing deadlines several times in the contract that we had to remind him of.

If we just refuse to sign this buyer's agreement or talk to his broker can he torpedo our deal on the house in any way?

submitted by /u/PureOhms
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1s9mxve/additional_transaction_fee_from_our_real_estate/
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