Tag: Listing agents

The Sharing of Listing Commissions With Buyers’ Agents Is Being Challenged  

The way real estate agents are compensated differs from that of any other industry, thanks to the creation of the Multi-List System or MLS, the essence of which is “cooperation and compensation.” Imagine going back to the days before the MLS when a real estate broker could only sell his own listings. The only way to have brokers show you listings of other brokerages is if each brokerage agrees to cooperate with sales agents from other brokerages by sharing their listing commission if they produce a buyer.

Litigation against the National Association of Realtors by the Department of Justice and other plaintiffs threatens to outlaw that system, which would have huge negative consequences not only for the industry but for buyers and sellers.

I like to contrast how we are compensated with how car salesmen are compensated. Imagine if you were in the market for a car and went to a Ford dealership and spoke with a sales person who listened to your desired features and told you that a Chevrolet or Toyota would suit you best. On his computer, he finds a dealer who has that model or models. He takes you to the other dealer’s lot, find the vehicle, get the key out of a window lockbox and take you for a test-drive. He or she could then write a purchase contract for that vehicle and earn the same commission from that dealership as from his own.

But it doesn’t work that way. The sales person at each dealership can only sell that dealership’s cars.

As an aside, there are auto brokers who are hired by car buyers. These brokers can find a dealer with the car you’re looking for and get compensated by the car dealer and not by the buyer. I used an auto broker myself in 2012 to buy a Chevy Volt, which was a brand new model and hard to find at any Chevy dealer. He found one that was en route to an Aurora dealership, which paid him a commission after I took delivery. But auto brokers are an exception. The car sales persons working at the typical car dealership cannot broker your purchase from another dealer the way I can broker your purchase of a real estate listing from any real estate brokerage.

This system of enabling any real estate broker to sell any other broker’s listing and earn a “co-op” commission is at the heart of our industry’s success, but some parties are trying to convince the Department of Justice and the federal judiciary that buyers, not sellers, should compensate their brokers.

But here’s a point that is being missed in this debate — the seller is NOT paying the buyer’s agent.  Yes, it’s the seller’s money that goes to the buyer’s agent, but the listing agent is the one who is paying the buyer’s agent out of the commission which the seller has agreed to pay him or her.  It says right in the listing agreement (Sec. 7.1.1) that the listing brokerage “agrees to contribute from the Sale Commission to outside brokerage firm’s commission as follows: __% of the gross sales price….”

Of course, at the closing table the seller’s settlement statement shows both commissions (to listing broker and selling broker) debited to the seller, but the total equals that specified in the listing agreement.

If the courts agree with the plaintiffs and with the Department of Justice in this matter, it would be a sad and unnecessary disruption of a process which has benefited both buyers and sellers and contributed to our healthy real estate market.

The outlawing of co-op commissions would be so disruptive that, yes, the industry could adapt but it’s hard to imagine that it would be as easy to buy and sell real estate.

Here Are Some Questions Sellers Should Ask When Hiring a Listing Agent

Do you know what to look for in a listing agent, and the questions to ask during a listing presentation?

You’ll probably want to know their level of experience, competence and success in selling similar properties, hopefully within your city or neighborhood.

Like you, I monitor the real estate activity where I live, and I’m astonished how many homes are listed by agents I’ve never heard of. As I write this on Monday, there are 50 active or pending listings in my area, represented by 40 different agents!  No agent has more than three listings. And despite practicing real estate here for 17 years, I only recognize the names of 11 of them.

This is typical of every city. Where did the sellers find all those different agents to list their homes? Many, I suspect are friends and family — every agent’s biggest “competitor.” In some cases, the seller had just bought their replacement home elsewhere and was convinced by that listing agent to list their current home — not the best decision if that agent is unfamiliar with your neighborhood, lives far away, and is unable to show the home on short notice, answer questions from buyers, or keep your brochure box well stocked.

Or perhaps the agent sent a letter or taped a note to your door claiming to have a buyer for your home. That earned him or her an interview, in which the agent said that his buyer found another home but convinced you to list with them.

Let’s say, however, that you want to interview  listing agents and make a rational hiring decision.

First, choose the agents to interview based on their location and experience in your neighborhood or city. Second, study their active/sold listings to see (1) their geographic distribution and (2) how well they are presented on the MLS. 

For this you can use a shortcut I created,  FindDenverRealtors.com, which takes you to the page on Denver’s MLS for searching agents by name. In my case, you’d see a profile and my active, pending and sold listings. Search for the agent(s) you’re considering. Read their profile, if they created one. Look at their current and sold listings. Click on one or more of them to see how they described the home on the MLS. Did they list all the rooms, not just bedrooms and bathrooms, providing dimensions and descriptions, or just enter the mandatory fields? Keep in mind that, the best indicator of how they will serve you is how they have served previous sellers.

Looking at those listings will answer the most important questions which you’d ask in person, but you won’t have to take their word — the truth is there in front of you. You’ll learn, for example, whether they did point-and-shoot pictures or had a professional photographer shoot HDR (magazine quality) photos, and whether they created a narrated video tour or just a slide show with music.

Having chosen who to interview that way, ask these questions of those you invite into your home for an interview:

What commission percentage do you charge? Keep in mind, there is no standard commission. It’s totally negotiable, and the industry average is in the mid-5’s, not 6%.

See whether the agent volunteers that they reduce their commission when they don’t have to pay 2.8% to a buyer’s agent. If you have to ask them, consider it a red flag. They hoped you wouldn’t.

Ask the agent whether he or she will discount their commission if you hire them to represent you in the purchase of your replacement home.

Hopefully the candidate will have researched the market and make a sound recommendation of listing price. Beware of agents who inflate their suggested listing price so you will list with them.

When setting the appointment, ask the agent to bring a spreadsheet of their sold listings with dates, days on market, listing price and sold price.

Lastly, how will they promote your listing?  Measure their promises against what we do, published at www.HowWeMarketListings.info.