I always show my buyer the houses that they are intersted in seeing regardless of the commission. If I make less money because they chose to buy a house that was offered with a smaller commission then that's just the way it goes.

What Lori said. You win some, you lose some, and the ones that are higher make up for those that are lower. Basing your willingness to show houses on your own salary, would go against your realtor's pledge to put your client's interests first, wouldn't it?

This was probably easier done in the days when agents printed out lists of properties for their clients to view.  But today with IDX and other Internet sources our clients tend to come to us with a list.  We have added a few to that list, if they missed some these may include homes that are offering more commission or better yet something for our buyer (paying part of the closing costs or carpet bonus or paying down the interest rate) we will make sure that home is shown as well.  But the very funny thing is I have yet to have a buyer pick a home that had a low commission.  We even had a couple offering 1.5 a couple years ago. And usually this was because of price and condition.  Over priced and not in the best condition.  It was weird that that went hand in hand.

Jana

Lori have you every had them actually choose one of those?

Jana

Jana, yes, I live in a small town and the two busiest companies offer a 60/40 split, the rest all offer 50/50. I am now affiliated with one of those companies so it happens less often, but it still happens.

"I have heard brokers and agents advise colleagues not to show a property due to the decrease in what is a customary commission rate."

That practice violates the Code of Ethics. Anyone that does something like that ought to be slapped and have their license revoked. In that order.

How in the world could you be serving your colients best interest by not showing a house simply because it was less than "standard" commission?  If it's all that important to hit some mystical number, then get a BBA signed that has the buyer make up the difference.

Okay, based on Jay's info, I will begin to pretend to possibly "show".... but "selling" is a whole different deal.  Never sold anything with flaky commissions and will not start now.... still too much inventory out there.

I negotiate commissions every day, I can go UP or DOWN, or just keep it at 6.  I am trained negotiator, but I will let you call shots on this one.

Just listed property today at 10% ..... I know that is crazy.  

Demonstrate value and you will get paid.  Do not demonstrate value and let them haggle.  Your decision.

Customers/Clients want "value" and happiness.... the actual commission rate is unimportant if you keep eye on ball.

Sorry for the rant Team Stevens, It's late and it just boggles my mind why a trained negotiator would even put up with this discount stuff.

My customers come first.  BUT... we drove by a home for sale with a certain company that did a flat fee MLS listing and upon calling the agent off the sign I found out that the sellers were NOT offering to co-op.  I told my buyers this.  My buyers said, "Never mind, we want you to get paid..." and we never went inside the home.

So, Mr. Reiff, having listed at 10% you will now be one of those 'flaky' discounters if you list anything below 10% in the future (since anything less will be a discount from that standard now set).  And, I suppose, if you 'show' or 'sell' anything offering less than 5% co-op you will be accepting a 'flaky' discounted commission???

Furthermore, you state that you "will begin to pretend to possibly "show"...."  -- is this the new NAR ethical standard... to 'pretend' to show?  Hmmm....  

Tim and Susan.....exceptional reply. I would have been a little more tackier; but exceptional nonetheless.

Show ALL homes. Especially if you have a good buyer rep agreement, you can look for lower commission homes and FSBO's. That's why a buyer hired you to find them a home right? Just tune up your buyer rep so you get paid and paid "what your worth", either from the seller, buyer, or the transaction.

This subject has been beat to death over and over again!!

Has anyone ever seen some brag about taking a listing for 3%, 4%,5%of course not, but it is done every day and then some for more or less...

We have all discounted commissions at one time or another!! lets not kid ourselves.

I have a commercial listing for 7.5% if some agents don't want to show it because in there eyes commercial for the most part gets 10%..and they even told me so !!!!!!

Hey I could care less.......they are telling the wrong person that in the first place, I will unload on them....I don't have time to play games..

Well guess what along comes an agent that runs his mouth an tells me would never take a commercial  listing for under 10% , on top of that he wanted to view the property because he MAY have a investor for it,

I told him it has a electronic lock box and go knock yourself out....

Mr Rant tells me he don't have access to those boxes and wanted me to met him there...he is just up the road in Roswell.

Well Mr Rant guess what! I tell him, that's not going to happen,

I told him to go sign up for our MLS and invest some of your 10% commissions you get in some lock boxes and keypad.... along with joining the local board..

Oops I had a drop call......case closed.

I'm being a little extreme to make a point but really do not care how other people go about it.  My point is that it is easy to charge a decent commission, just have to ask nicely.

Tim and Susan Said:

We all know commission in negotiated for each sale, never set in real estate ( I assume this is across the board in most states).

(Its the law and those who who do not think so please click the link to meet MR Sherman)

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title7/ant00008.htm

I will show any listing to anyone no matter what the commissions is,,,

I will not throw away money and could care less how much it is listed at..

If anyone has any buyers that are in my area looking at a so called discount listing and don't want to show it............ send them my way,

I will even pay  a referral......Fee..............

Vance

Okay, deal.  I'll send commission hagglers to Vance !!!

Bring-em on Radley

Just check in with me to make sure I am back in Metro Atlanta ok

You can contact me through my Georgia site..

http://www.GeorgiaPeachRealEstate.com

Thanks for any referrals in ad-vance

LOL - I don't recall saying that, Vance, but I do concur with the sentiment.

We don't consider the commission when showing a listing (but then, I don't remember seeing anything lower than 2% co-op in our area and that is rare.  Usually the co-op is in the 2.5% - 3% range anyway).  

Our concern is to take exceptional care of the buyer's needs first... our life philosophy is based a bit on the whole Karma idea (or Golden Rule / Platinum Rule... whatever you want to call it).  We just find that when we do what we believe is right for the 'other guy' that our income will pretty much take care of itself.  So far, so good... :-)

You guys are great, ha ha, you did not say it :)

It was

Team Stevens  who started this thread ha ha

said it I just looked now,,,, but I am Glad you concur !!

The lowest I have seen co-op is 2%

I have seen some flat rate commissions, a agent friend of mine offered $4,000 to buyers agents in Lake Mary fL

Have you seen any of this yet?

Vance

Actually, Vance, we did have something like that about 5 weeks ago.  We were showing properties in the million dollar range and one of those flat-rate-stick-it-in-MLS-only listings came up.  If I recall, the seller was offering a flat $5,000.  I called her to ask if this was a misprint and she said, "No, why do you ask?"  I said "Well, that's a pretty low commission on a million dollar property and I see that your home has been in MLS for over 6 months.  Are you getting many showings?"  She said, "No, I haven't had any.  That's why I'm having an open house this weekend."

At any rate, she agreed to paying us 2% if we brought a buyer.  We showed it during the open house but it was WAY overpriced so we didn't stay long.  Oh, by the way, we were her only lookers at the open house.  

...I'll have to check on that listing and see if anything has happened with it since then.   Hmmmm.... may be a listing opportunity there if it has expired. LOL

Well the good part is she will go for the 2% for ya, thats not a bad piece of change...

Maybe you are on to something? I would look for other flat fee and maybe get another 2% or more

I have oceanfront condos on North Hutchinson island that pay 2.5 each just for the leads, if they buy and I am protected..

VanceMart

Oh here is another thing you may want to do with her,, she if she will give you permission to advertise on your web site ! that would be a nice plus for ya.. I have several myself...

You may be her Hero:)

VanceMart, always lower prices...

I've got a listing with a flat-fee commission right now. $3000 on a property listed at $119,900. (I'm getting less than 3K, by the way.) The reason is that the owner succumbed to the sub-prime market in 2005 and refinanced, taking all her equity out. She owes 105K and is flat broke, and the bank is threatening to foreclose. I'm figuring if I can sell at $115,000, skim 5 grand off the top for commissions (OK, so I'm telling you my take as well...) and she'll get the rest, everyone is happy. It comes out to around 2.6% if I can sell at 115K, but it's just easier to offer it as a flat fee rather than mess with the percentage. It's not something I've ever done before, and I don't plan to make a habit of it, but under the circumstances, it seemed the best way.

I forgot to mention that we've had twenty showings since last Thursday, so the flat-fee commission hasn't seemed to hurt. We've only received one (written) offer, and the agent didn't try to renegotiate the commission, but then it's pretty close to what he'd get anyway. Especially at the (low, low) price he offered...

Wow you gotta love !!it

The Internet that is: oops.

( I can sell at $115,000, skim 5 grand off the top for commissions (OK, so I'm telling you my take as well...)

Gee (skim 5 grand off the top) should really impress other home buyers and sellers  when they see this one all over the Internet..

Just in case for those who do not know but these postings are on the net. :)

Guess I didn't express myself well. Christina, since Vance objects, maybe it would be better to remove that particular remark of mine from the discussion. You have the ability to do that, yes? And yes, for the record, I did forget for the moment that this is a public forum and that it probably wasn't a good idea to put numbers and percentages out there. Mea culpa. I hope y'all know that however it may have sounded, I wasn't actually 'skimming' anything from anywhere, just explaining my reason for offering a flat-fee commission rather than a percentage-based commission in this case.

Team Stevens - "Putting your rate on paper in that portion of the contract" wouldn't work in our market since the contract to purchase is between buyer and seller and not between the agents. There is no place in the offer where the agents Broker would be included to sign for any type of new co-op split so why put it in the offer?

When an agent shows the property, they are aware of the co-op amount and withholding any offer before a 'revised' commission is established would be unethical (I know you didn't come anywhere close to saying that, I just threw it in here). Like others have mentioned, if you expect a certain commission, get a buyers agency agreement signed.

Hey  Bente, just trying to help ! think about it,, I am not trying to tear you up ok...

I could care less about that remark, I find it kinda funny,,myself, its your remark.. but I think you know what I mean...

Think about this suppose someone took that remark and brought to NARs attention,, or who knows,, hummm

Vance

Team Stevens: also can you delete my post to Bente postings.

Thanks

Mr Post It Note

No problem, Vance. I do my best not to take these things personally, and I can see your point, sure. Thanks for looking out for me. :-)

EBAs (and I am not one, though of course I often represent a buyer in a transaction) would argue "Get your buyer to pay your commission and the coop becomes irrelevant"

Which it should be anyway relative to which property fits your client's needs.

Hey Bente :)

I have shot myself in the foot, with my keyboard before I know.ha ha ha .. and some of it is out there ha ha.

Vance :)

Bee-Vance, now?  Building a new home?  Got so hungry you could eat a fence post?  Whats up with the new photo?

Shelly,

Now you are seeing Beavers??? come on,how long have you had this condition? ha ha ha ..

Buckey

Very funny.  I will look like a fool later!!  Love the dog!!  What a good boy.  Sit, boy, Sit!!

ITS A GIRL SHELLY !!!!!  ha ha name ABBEY, ha ha What a Good Girl ha ha

Yeeee Haw... I Love it Shelly :)

How are you going to explain away the Beaver thing? I can't wait until someone ask you are you seeing Beavers in your sleep. ha ha ha .

This is to funny I have tears in my eyes and my side hurts....Your killing me!!!

Ok Shelly your on your own.....

Buckey

I am so tired, my dreams are haunting me.  The beaver, Abe Lincoln, etc....  They want me to come back to bed and dream of them.

Maybe this will help you then....

http://www.rozerem.com/

Vance, you're good.  Not only did you get my rather obscure reference, you even knew the name of the drug!!  I am impressed.  Now, abbey, go fetch.  : )

Back to the thread... I will show regardless of the commission.  However, if I know that a home is offering 5-8% and is a good deal and meets the customer wishes - I am going to add it to the days showings.  Why not?  They may hate it, but they just might love it, and I just might love writing the 8% commission on my contract...

I agree,,,

But good luck finding a 5% or 8% in the Orlando market..more like 2.5% and 2% in the norm..

It is truly a Mickey Mouse market.

http://www.VanceMLS.com

Let's put this on context.

Quite simply, each and every one us are independent agents - that is, we make what we earn.

Now, let's say you have a client who's interested in a certain type of property in a certain area and within a certain price range.  There are 27 listings on the market that meet his requirements, and all are in very good condition.  Do you:

A) show ALL the listings

B) show only the cheapest listings regardless of commission

C) show only the most expensive listings regardless of commission

D) show only those listings that have the highest commission

E) show only those listings that will net you the greatest return

You decide. I know which one I'll pick

How about:

F) Email all the listings to the buyer and show the ones he wants to see regardless of commission offered

Give me an F!  :)

Team Stevens said:

Vance I am sorry to repost something that may have already been "beat to death".  I am new to this forum.  Looks like you and Radley got some fun out of it.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Don't worry about ha ha , it is a matter of speech with me..

you can rest assure, All topics have been beat to death hundreds of times ha ha , thats the way it is :)

Beatles ha ha  Michael Jackson Beat It la la la la

Have a good one:)

Very cute.  By the way this is me Christina Stevens again logging in from our other site.  I can't keep up with myself anymore.  

Have a great Monday and thanks for commenting on an old subject.  Like I said you guys got some fun out of it.

Christina Stevens

Better be careful, Christina!  You're going to develop a split personality!