Commission Strategies

The best thing about "Broker Assisted MLS" (next to the commission free listing!) is naming your own buyer's agency commission! Lots of stategies are popping up and our clients are considering all of their options!

We are seeing a real shift in the way buyers are finding properties. Once reliant on agents, buyers are now utilizing the internet and doing the leg work themselves. Over 80% of buyers are finding their homes on the internet! That is great news for sellers! Buyers are contacting owners directly or calling in agents after they have narrowed the search. This makes commisssions more negotiable than ever!
Listed below are some of the strategies we have seen our clients use over the past two years.

• THE ONE DOLLAR COMMISSION (ODC). The most talked about strategy on both sides of the equation! Sellers love it and agents hate it! (We know because they call us first to see if there was a....."mistake".) This strategy has been utilized successfully several times.
• Most notable was a gentleman in Greece who hated real estate agents, and swore that he wouldn't even offer them "gas money." He was the first ever to use this strategy, but he priced his home right (according to market conditions) and sold within two weeks. This strategy works well for people who are very matter of fact about the business of selling their home. It is the combination of the right price for the market, a desirable area, and a house in selling condition. Buyers want what they want - and if the product is in demand - why pay out a commission to sell what sells on its own merits? Sellers hoping to find a buyer without an agent utilize this strategy and sellers hoping to negotiate commission do too. Remember, at one dollar - there is a lot of room for play!

• THE FLAT FEE. The Flat Fee has worked well. Higher-end homeowners wonder (and justifiably) why they pay out so much more in commissions to buyer's agents for the same amount of work as do homeowners of more modestly priced homes. We watched one homeowner of a higher-end home in Brighton offer a commission of 1% to buyer's agents and when an agent brought him a qualified buyer... he was much more inclined to negotiate the agent's fee. He upped the commission to a flat fee (still much less than the typical 3%) and both parties closed for a successful deal. The qualifer here is qualified buyer. Our clients sometimes get grief from buyer's agents regarding showing their homes but baloney! Any agent worth his salt with a qualified buyer is going to call a seller and negotiate! 3% is not written in stone anymore. It never should have been.

• THE THREE PERCENT COMMISSION. This is the traditional commission. Many sellers are happy enough to save 3% on the selling side. Some don't feel up to the pressures exerted by agents and some just don't want the hassels. The biggest factor may be the desirablity and location of the home itself. Some sellers acknowledge that they want all the help they can get. Remember - if you have time - start low and work your way up. Sellers with our service can offer a pecentage of 1%, 1.5%, 2%, 2.5% on up to the traditional 3%. You can change the commission offered at anytime - just log on and go!