Hi Tony

We have some companies in our area that charge  "...fee..."

but the buyer or seller has to sign and agree to it before the service is rendered

Anne

Some firms here are doing it. Explained that way, it is a junk fee. I had one agent explain it was for document storage for the state mandated 3 years. If it's state mandated, why does buyer/seller have to pay? I saw this firm charge 2x (both buyer and seller) one deal. Does the file (in house) have to be stored 2x?

I would agree with the previous blogger; it is a junk fee.  We don't have that fee; in fact I have never heard of it until I read your blog.  Sounds like revenue to the broker to me.

I charge the fee as an adminstrative fee have not had anyone with a problem with it.  We pay an admin person to make sure that we bullet proof the transaction.  BTW my fee is $295.00  My broker gets none of it as it is paid directly to my admin.

ok ok   how do you explain the $75 email fee on got hit with when completing a fee sheet recently with a regional lender.......

Is anyone worried that someday people will just simply reach critical mass with stuff like this?

Not really - but I did just save 75 bucks on my car insurance......................

Thanks Lewis - Great Marketing campaign

You know Gary some times it is all getting out of control

Lewis - for the email fee you will have to ask the lender. I don't charge junk fees. Regional and national lenders have pushed all the small guys out just like Walmart and ATT so now they control the market.

Jeff - no problem when you call it what it is. I think that a separate supplement is a little slight of hand but it is just me. Reminds me of the car business were I came from. We are the kings of misc fees.

Thanks everyone

Tony

Tony - We have a $195 transaction fee, which I think is crap, so I usually pay it myself.  Isn't that what we get paid a commission for, handling the transaction?

Thanks Virigina.

I have a hard time when a full service broker (real estate and mortgage) just try to nickel and dime the client and then brag about great service

Tony

I used to work for Re/Max and we had that charge for scanning the documents; I hated telling people that.  I now work for Keller Williams (for a whole host of reasons) and we do not do that and I'm thrilled.

Tony, I think you knew the answer before you asked it.  However, to add my two cents - decide what your service is worth and then charge it.  I stopped pricing by the percent method a long time ago (most mortgage people I know have a target of 1.5% of the loan amount) and went more to a flat fee amount.  Makes it much easier for me to justify when a client asks - which they rarely do.  Using the percent method (and it is similar to Real estate agents) you make a ton more for a big loan or a big home even though the work is very similar (or exact in my case) to a small loan or small home.

If the Special Agent in question did not have the client sign a disclosure notifying them of the fee I'd tell the client to tell the Special Agent to shove it where the sun don't shine!  If I forget to disclose a fee, I eat it.

If the Special  Agent doesn't agree to wave the fee I'd have the client ask him/her - "is your dumb fee worth all the bad press I'm going to give you?"

It's not the fees themselves that are bad in our respective industries, but the lack of disclosure and common sense.

LOL - we've seen these fees from other companies way before the year 2001 TONY ( so 9-11 has nothing to do with it and is a not so good point of reference I think :)

In my opinion, this is a junk fee - we do not add anything like this onto a HUD - just the contracturally agreed upon commission % - but this is a free enterprise system and each independant brokerage makes it's own representations.

Disclosure upfront is key. The consumer should be made aware of any and all costs with a net proceeds sheet way beforehand.

Sincerely,

Grace

Thanks Grace!

Being a 25+ veteran of the car business I thought I knew about every fee that was out there. But the reference to 911 made my blood boil.

When in the car business I always told my clients what to prepare for in the finance office. The agent eneded up waiving or eating. Nort sure. Sometimes you just have to ask when is enough, enough

Thanks

Tony

Hey Mike!

Thanks for your comments. I like your pricing structure. I am all about being fair. It drives in repeat business.

Funny, the agent ate the fee and will never get a referral and I already did get two from the client. Goes to show, always do the right thing

Tony