I just read a posting concerning the dealings that an Active Rainer's family members were having with a realtor in another state, who had listed a property but was not marketing it. Several people suggested that the ActiveRainer should get involved, find a new realtor for the family member and collect a 25% referral fee.
I started to wonder whether collecting that 25% referral fee is really in the best interests of that family member or any client in that situation. In this market, where listings can linger, even when priced correctly, and listing agents have to spend real money to market them, is the listing agent going to be happy to turn over 25% of the commission? Are the client's interests really served by the referring agent pocketing the referral fee and taking the marketing dollars or the incentive away from the listing agent?
I use several companies for leads which charge me a referral fee and I don't mind paying them, because I realize that that is their business, and my referral fee is going to them as a cost of my getting that lead. On the other hand, a buyer client I had been working with wrote one offer with me that didn't go through, and with the second offer asked me to give her realtor mother a 25% referral fee because her mother hadn't sold any houses recently. (The realtor mother hadn't referred her daughter to me either!) I admit I agreed to give the referral because I recognize the bind that the daughter was in, and that she would either go elsewhere from now on, or at least not feel kindly to me for refusing to help her mother out, However, now I don't feel warm and fuzzy about my client, and will be glad when we get to settlement and they are out of my car. I suspect that i would have felt better about the whole thing if the mother had asked for the referral to give to the daughter to help with closing costs, or something like that.
The point of my ramblings tonight are that I believe that in many instances if we really care about the client, we will just find the best agent we can, wish all parties well, and get out of the way. You can't always have the whole pie all the time.
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