When you’re shopping for a house, it might appear that the friendly broker who listens to your needs, drives you around to showings and answers your questions is unflaggingly devoted to you. In reality, however, most agents work for sellers. Now, even more so. These days, see, agents representing buyers are increasingly being showered with extra incentives that may cause them to push certain houses. Traditionally, sellers pay 6 percent commissions – 3 percent to their agent, 3 percent to the buyer’s agent. But with the market slowing, sellers are upping the slice going to buyer’s agents. In Livingston, N.J., Roseland Properties is offering 5% to buyer’s brokers alone. And in Las Vegas, where prices are expected to drop significantly in 2007, American Homes West has upped what it pays buyer’s brokers from $1,000 to $10,000, with an added $5,000 if the agent gets the buyer to pay full price. It’s not just builders that are offering agent incentives; even individual homeowners, like Mohamad Khurram of Woodbridge, Va., are getting in on the trend. The reward for Khurram’s $785,000 four-bedroom is 8 percent plus $5,000 – that’s nearly $70,000 to just the buyer’s broker […]