How many agents do a flat fee for a listing ?
We received a listing lead from our website. The owner lives in a different county but owns a really nice condo in one of the neighborhoods (Northern Liberties) that my wife and I specialize in. She did some research in our neighborhood and found us - a good sign we are doing something right ! She started out with a couple of questions about what her property was worth - we were glad to speak to her. We spoke on the phone and had email correspondence. The conversation continued over the course of the next week or two with more specific questions about pricing, the market, and so forth - it continued to many phone conversations and numerous emails - was becoming a lot for not even meeting with someone as of yet ! However, the seller's tenant was now going to stay for a few more months and thus disappeared for a bit.
Recently, the seller reappeared and contacted us saying the tenant is moving out in August and would weconsider a flat fee listing ????? (this is after conversations about marketing, commissions and so forth)
Now I sell a lot of investment properties under $70K which for most of those properties, since the sales price is lower, I will do a flat fee commission of $4,000 (offering the buyers agent $2,000). But for a $300,000 condo, I was a little perplexed about the question but I did indicate that I could do a flat fee. It would just need to be in-line with a 5 to 6 percent commission. I quickly realized is what this person was looking for was a discounted type service - someone to list her property for a discount.
Now there is plenty of the new models out there that are discount flat fee brokers which is fine - they have their place in the market, but was a little taken aback that I would be asked to consider that. Is that something more common in the marketplace where full service agents are severely discounting commissions ?
I told this person that in this slow market that the choice was hers - but to be careful - that there would be many risks with going that route as the only exposure she would get would basically be the MLS - no additional marketing exposure and no expertise in the neighborhood. She responded saying how easy it could be and it turned into an email correspondence for a day back and forth going over her thoughts versus my knowledge.
My wife fortunately brought me back into reality and said "Chris, let her go. We dont want or need her business. If someone does not want to work with us or does not value what we do, than they should go elsewhere." You know what, she was right !!!! Sometimes it is just better to let go in the beginning and say "good luck.
UPDATE (July 2009) - We ended up listing the property for the seller who was a pleasure to work with. We worked out a strategic plan that was mutually beneficial and sold the property with the deal closing in 2008 !
What are your experiences with sellers who want "flat fee" or "discounted pricing with full service" ?
And what are your experiences with "flat fee" brokerage firms ?
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