NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/misc/invest/realest/1129

Text File | 1992-12-22 | 2.6 KB | 53 lines

Newsgroups: misc.invest.real-estate
Path: sparky!uunet!haven.umd.edu!darwin.sura.net!spool.mu.edu!agate!ames!data.nas.nasa.gov!gigantor.nas.nasa.gov!hahn
From: [e-mail] (Jonathan Hahn)
Subject: Re: Negotiating a lower commission after an
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail] (News Administrator)
Organization: Unetix Inc. @ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 92 00:14:38 GMT
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Lines: 41

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Pete Holsberg) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>=I'll admit half is a bit extreme to forgo, but it certainly shouldn't be
>=considered unreasonable for a broker to be asked to drop a couple thou off
>=their commission, if it means making a sale...
>
>The total commission on Dave's example was only $7000, split four ways.
>Brokers never cut their pieces of the pie, leaving only $1750 for each
         ^^^^^
>agent. No way to "drop a couple [of] thou" from $1750!!

Never?  Are you certain?  Real estate agencies come in many sizes:
large, medium and small.  My realtor belongs to his wife's agency and I
know for a fact he controlls more than 1.5% of the commission.  I
believe that with real estate agencies, as with most other companies,
the smaller they are, the more flexible they are.  Also, I have heard
from people in the industry that even in large firms, top sellers get
more than 1.5%.

There is nothing ethically or legally preventing them from negotiating
commission, nor is there anything preventing a buyer or seller from
suggesting it.  However, I believe it is considered very bad realtor
etiquette to do it since if the practice became widespread, it would
jepardize the system that they have so much interest in maintaining.

I'm not saying they don't have a right to look out for their own
interests (they do),  it's just that as a home buyer or seller, you
must look out for your own interests and be aware of any conflicts.  As
has been mentioned in previous posts, you cannot depend on the realtor
to do it for you, as the realtor's interests are his/her own, not
necessarily yours.

By the way, in the example above, the realtor's split was $1750 for
selling a house.  Around where I live, you can easily spend $300K
for a small, nothing-of-a-house.  The 1.5% realtor's split would be
$4500.  I think there's a little bit of fat in that figure.

-jon
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