The reality of today’s real estate market is that we, as agents, need to be flexible and need to adapt to change. As a seller, you need to make sure that your property is exposed as much as possible and that usually means money out of the agent’s pocket which they will not get back until the property closes.

You also need to be aware that finding the buyer is probably the easiest part of selling a home – the actual transaction management – making sure that buyer follows deadlines (inspections, loan commitments, etc) is of utmost importance. And keeping a deal alive in today’s market may be challenging.

I was having this conversation with a colleague in Miami yesterday where we discussed how sometimes dealing with a cooperating agent that is inefficient and inept is more work than doing both sides of the transaction alone.

You, as a seller have every right to pick was services you are looking for – but make sure you compare apples to apples.

You are correct: I’ve already heard several times agents
will cut their commissions, what I couldn’t figure out was why?
What’s the incentive?

I would like to understand the communication gap, however,
because it’s huge, and hurts everyone in the process:
? is it that sellers don’t want to pay the 6%, period?
? ?a current survey by Consumer Reports
states a high number of agents are adjusting commission, without an impact on service.

In my business, recession requires vast amts. of time spent to educate people,
and “with so many candidates to choose from”, (part of the same perception),
why shouldn’t we cut the commission?”

When I sign on with an Agent I realize the expertise is there.
If I network and bring in a buyer, however, am I entitled to the other 3%?
Now that would be fun! More importantly, not
to cheat my Agent, but to acknowledge my time bringing in a buyer…if
that were to happen!

There may be creative ideas that are worth consideration
on occasion. I want repeat business too, but I’m looking for possibilities here, and always respect a professional. I sincerely look forward to comments, thanks.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/money/real-estate,

Ann- there are some people out there that will never hire a Realtor (and that’s ok). I compare those people to the ones that would never hire an architect and let their contractor do the designing. When all is done and the project is horrible, they realize that they shouldn’t have cut such an important step….but it was still their CHOICE

Blue ridge rentals- I think the whole argument started about some transactions taking a lot less time than others and how you can justify the difference in pay.

Moni- I think you have an extremely interesting concept- and like I said before, if only as an exercise, I will take the challenge.

I think especially if you are a new agent you must learn to do it. Is it line by line? No. But in some basic categories you can and should know your value point. I know that for me, doing a CMA may take an average of 4 hours and that is before I even do the presentation and get the listing. I also know what my out of pocket expense is to do that CMA.

I know what my experience is worth. So what would I charge to do CMA…is it as detailed as an appraisal? Yes and do I charge more? Yes I do. Why?… because of my knowledge of the area, my working knowledge of what buyers are looking for. My years and years of experience… all add up. Can I break my experience down to a dollar value per hour…probably not. My resume speaks for itself.

Same thing when I’m a buyer agent. I know what I charge and what I do and can clearly articulate to the buyer why they should hire me.

Like Ann, most of my business is repeat and referrals and that says a lot. But new agents in my opinion need to be able to dollarize what they do. ..the hard part for them is the experience part. They need to be able to say here is what I do and here is why it benefits you…the “why it benefits you” is the value piece the consumer cares about.

How much am I worth and why that benefits my clients… I need to demonstrate that.
I would never push myself onto someone who does not value my expertise …saying “next” works for me.
I’m far from rich and I remember once years ago I tracked a listing and in the end I made 16 cents per/hour. Yuck! I said never again. There is so much of what we do that can’t be wrapped in a pretty package…we just do it and know how to do it.

Wade, that speaks volumes to those of us who bring to the table exactly what that agent did who found you that house that you would never have considered otherwise. Hooray for you and double hooray for her!

My professional fees are between me and my clients, and I never DEFEND my fees. I DEMONSTRATE my skills, my experience and expertise, my abilities and everything else I bring to the table for each of my clients. Most of my business is repeat clients and word-of-mouth referrals, and that speaks volumes as to my abilities.

For all we are and all we do and all we bring to the table, I see absolutely no way and no reason to ‘dollarize’ that. How do you ‘dollarize’ all the education and networking we do to stay on top of our game, to stay ahead of the majority of agents in our given areas? Sure, you can ‘dollarize’ some marketing and advertising, and you can ‘dollarize’ the physical hours put into each client, but what about what’s in our heads, as Wade put it? What about the mental and emotional hours put into clients? No way on earth to ‘dollarize’ that!

And as for trying to answer most of those who left comments on that post on AR, I firmly believe that it wouldn’t matter one iota to those people what any of us would write there as their sole purpose is to bash each of us and rip our profession apart. That’s very clear when you look at the website they all are part of. My time and my energies are better spent with those who really do appreciate what I stand for, and it’s also better spent learning even more ways to bring even more value to my clients by reading and networking online.

Healthy realistic discussions are great and are also educational – nasty ones have nothing to be gained from them and are total time-wasters.

I’m still staying away…..but it’s not easy.

“First… I am paid for selling a home for a seller. If the home does not sell, I do not get paid. I get paid for the acceptable outcome – not for the “specific things I do” to get it sold. (I just happen to know the right things to do – and NOT do – to get it sold.) If THAT were the case, then I would bill my Sellers by the hour whether or not their house sold, which is a HORRIBLE business model IMHO … and of NO good use to the Seller.

What I charge is at MY discretion. I am a small businees owner and it is MY decision how much I sell MY services/goods for.

And when all is said and done, commissions are ALWAYS negotiable.”

re: HP and the AR post… Why should I try to “justify” anything to someone who will never use my services, nor any other RE Agent services for that matter? Makes no sense. I might as well try to convince a Vegan to go deer hunting. Waste of time. (I would rather watch Growing Pains reruns.)

However, in support of that AR post, I did reply …

Bill – the whole point in that conversation is that the consumer really doesn’t know what our business entails and no one is explaining. Talk about an opportunity to explain the process, the details and the obstacles that we encounter in every transaction.

Now about the other models – it gets a bit more difficult for the consumer to decide what services to pick and it also has to do with establishing rapport with the agent (if you choose to use one). I can tell you that even within full-service companies, the value you will offer as opposed to the one I will offer will be totally different and that’s the real beauty of blogging and explaining your value.

The “monolithic manner” in which the consumer views the industry also applies to the “monolithic manner” in which they talk about consumer needs – THAT’s the part that intrigues me the most. For someone to say….”your full-service, full-commission model needs to change now because the consumer doesn’t need you” is ironic because there are plenty of consumers that prefer the “full-service, full-commission” model because not only do they not have the time to handle it themselves, they don’t have the interest and are happy to pay for the commission. And THOSE, my friend, are the customers I work with.

….Thank you for taking the time to comment and contribute to the discussion.

As far as flat fee or alternative business models – I have my own opinions, and I demonstrate them through the company I operate, but I believe that just listing a property on the MLS is no more effective than just sticking a sign in an electronic lawn – Even that business model relies upon the real estate community to sell the property – they (the consumer and that business model) just seem to be of the opinion that there is little value in the efforts of the listing or marketing agents and their companies. And limited service or flat fee, or discount brokers are entitled to charge whatever they want for whatever they do. After all, who knows better then they do what their time and efforts are worth? I just don’t want the consumer to think that we provide the same services when if fact, we do not.

I only wish that the consumer didn’t view the industry and its members in such a monolithic manner so that the differences between all of these business models could be more readily discerned by the consumer. I just wouldn’t want a consumer to feel that the only difference between these companies was price when there are substantial differences in the type of work and the potential results that they might receive.

Bit thanks again for making your points so well.

What has changed is the consumers ability to be heard. HP and sites like those are AR bloggers worst nightmare because so many agents write in a condescending manner about the consumer and those comments will see the light of day.

One of the biggest takeaways from that discussion is that you need to be willing to have whatever you write used against you, therefor you better be willing to own it in public.