With that out of the way, let me just say that I have never seen an industry so rife with incompetent, greedy people as real estate sales. Far too many of the agents I have interacted with were under educated in their field and were more concerned about their own bottom line than anything else.

This has thinned out some since the crash, but not a whole lot. I am not surprised that they were calling, asking for money. That is what agents do and why the profession is still viewed as little better in status than used car salesmen.

Referrals, client incentives etc.. have become so ubiquitous that agents and other consumers begin approaching at least 25% of commissions as discretionary income.

This is all supporting the fee-for-service model.

Because of the internet lead companies, corporate referrals and the like, it seems that everyone is just ready to fork over 25-40% of the commissions to who ever holds their hand out.

> Actually, instead of you paying me a referral, I’d like to you credit the referral you would pay to me to the buyer as a credit at closing.

Greed on the part of the agent isn’t the issue here. What it comes down to is the buyer asking for cash back and not having the courage to make the request up front, which would have been the better way to go, and having someone else do it for them instead.

Whether you are willing to give a rebate is your own business. As for the agent, I would have a two-word answer for him.

But, I can see how the buyers would still want you to give them some of the commission at closing now that they know about the option, or would keep looking for another agent.

I’m fortunate that crediting a buyer part of the commission is not allowed in Missouri.

The only time when I will pay a referral fee when the client contacted me directly is if there is a relo company involved (no choice) or if the client tells me themselves that they have a relative and want to make sure the relative gets a referral fee on the transaction. That’s happened twice to me, and both times it was worth it to agree.

Warn them in no uncertain terms that unethical behavior is punishable and is a career ender. Make a video presentation that highlights the following future moves:

Register their name,put a WordPress site up, and make 100+ posts where = That person is an unethical thief.

Then, I would call the department of commerce and division of real estate.

Then I would litigate against their BROKER demanding dismissal, and seeking 4x commissions (lifetime value of client) in exchange.

I would then call all of their listings and say that they are violating ethics, and that they should terminate the agreement, and here are the forms.

…

Think I’m kidding? An agent in Columbus, OH is no able to be part of RE/MAX. All of his listings got the copies of the police reports from him beating his wife and mom, indicating that they were supporting violence against women–and here’s a cancel form.

HE was an unethical jackass that stole an offer of mine off of a fax in a competitive bid situation, and then gloated about it to me.

If you’re gonna go to war with me, I will not go half way. That kind of behavior should be punished, and those kind of people should be ejected from (y)our real estate industry. You have a responsibility to put his name on this blog, and to keep the bs gone.

Or just ignore it. But I think this needs to have action taken and this guy must be expelled from the industry in a hurry.

You may have dodged a bullet anyway; with an agent like that selling their house, who knows if they ever could buy!