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Are your commissions under attack?

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Miller Homes Group

Are your commissions under attack?

Where is NAR, when it comes to protecting your hard earned money?

Asset companies think nothing of slashing your commission on a deal and consistently do it on most REO deals being done today. Yet they accepted the deal and make the agent an unwilling financial participant in the deal.

Asset companies follow no rules but expect agents to adhere to the ethics of making the customer happy and not making the deal come unraveled over commissions. The asset company will walk away from a deal in a heartbeat and does if the agent won't cut their pay. Yet the asset company gets paid, regardless of the price. They get management fees, clean up fees and the like, that are seldom if ever used.

Now we have the new HUD coming out January 1, 2010. It is designed to be easier and to hold lenders to a higher standard. Both of which I doubt. Well, get ready to battle for your commissions so the lender can comply with RESPA. They are not entitled to ask you to cut your commission, but we all know what will happen if they are outside the 10% range allowed.

Our commissions and our way of doing business are under attack and I for one believe NAR is not attacking this correct. When you bring a knife to a gun fight, the results are inevitable.

Are Real Estate Agents the only one still required to have ethics and protect the integrity of the deal?

http://kwtyler.com

http://agentrecruit.com

 

Posted by

Terry Miller

Miller Homes Group

Tyler Apartment Locator

Comments (17)

Rob Arnold
Sand Dollar Realty Group, Inc. - Altamonte Springs, FL
Metro Orlando Full Service - Investor Friendly & F

NAR has had weak leadership in the past.  I will say that they lobbied to get Fannie Mae to approve short sales at 6% commission minimum which is great for us.  Not much to do with the bank REOs though.  The listing agents just have to make them up with volume.

Nov 21, 2009 12:45 AM
Cheryl Thomson REALTOR Ret Army
United Real Estate DC Metro Region (703.216.5635) cheryltee47@gmail.com - Prince William, VA
Associate Broker in Northern Virginia

Hi Terry- One thing I can say that you are correct on is asking the lender to go outside of the 10%...I was looked at like I came from another planet!

Nov 21, 2009 12:52 AM
Anne Hensel
South Beaches Real Estate Professionals - Saint Petersburg, FL
Realtor - Broker - St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island

Love your post AND yes, I believe we Realtors are the only once that are REQUIRED to have ethics.

Nov 21, 2009 12:53 AM
Robert Ott
Century21 Beal Inc. - College Station, TX

Right on Terry; and when they want you to pay 10 times what that little bitty pen knife is worth, the one they issue you, it really insults your intelligence!

Nov 21, 2009 01:08 AM
Jim Crawford
Long & Foster - Fredericksburg, VA
Jim Crawford Broker Associate Fredericksburg VA

It is truly bait and switch.  Why should the agent give up any commission.  We bring in the buyers!  You know we are the cavalry coming to the rescue at the massacre!  What if we started telling our buyers why waste your time...?

Nov 21, 2009 01:14 AM
Jon Budish
Resident Realty - Fort Collins, CO

Thanks Terry. I also believe these are the kinds of issues the NAR should be addressing aggressively as our representatives.

Nov 21, 2009 02:12 AM
Bill Lauler
Chase Realty LLC - McLean, VA
Associate Broker,CIPS,CRB,SRES,GRI

Hi Terry , you are absolutely correct about NAR, VAR took on the banks an laid the law down as far as the commissions were concerned as per MRIS(our mls) an with Virginia as the venue for all legal problems as per contract.

Nov 21, 2009 03:28 AM
Paul S. Henderson, REALTORĀ®, CRS
Fathom Realty Washington LLC - Tacoma, WA
South Puget Sound Washington Agent/Broker!

Commissions are always a fun subject. Every one has an opinion of how much your worth even though they have no knowledge of what the work load is...Just put a sign out...

Nov 21, 2009 05:04 AM
Sabrina Kelley
ERA Herman Group Real Estate - Woodland Park, CO
Woodland Park Colorado Mountain Homes and Land

The face of real estate has changed drastically in only two years. As the profession adjust I do believe we can see positive changes occurring in relation to keeping our commissions.

Nov 21, 2009 05:51 AM
Bonnie Vaughan
Scranton, PA
CNE SFR - Buyers/Sellers - Lackawanna & Surroundin

We had a deal with a short sale and the bank waited until the day before closing to demand that the commission be cut by 1%.  This was an ordinary listing commission not 10%.  We agreed and the other agent did not want to.  It turned into a battle royal.  Finally he relented after 3 days of hammering.

Another bad taste in your mouth as an agent.

Nov 21, 2009 06:18 AM
Jay-Paul Lowry
Riverside, CA

terry - say hello to the new United States....it looks like Mao's China.

 

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1298381/hey-americans-wake-up-your-paycheck-is-at-stake-

 

JP

Nov 21, 2009 09:23 AM
Steve, Joel & Steve A. Chain
Chain Real Estate Investments & Mortgage, Steve & Joel Chain - Cottonwood, CA

Terry, We see a lot of 5-6% in CA.  The amount of work involved has sure increased while comissions stayed relatively unchanged.  I think the Fannie Mae move has a stablizing influence and sets a good example.

Nov 21, 2009 12:46 PM
Broker Nick
South Florida Real Estate & Development, Inc. - Coconut Creek, FL
Broker Nick Relocation Broker Service

Hi Terry - I am re - blogging this post if you don't mind. The word needs to be shared.

Nov 22, 2009 03:04 AM
Broker Nick
South Florida Real Estate & Development, Inc. - Coconut Creek, FL
Broker Nick Relocation Broker Service

Terry - Also, thank you for standing with us, lots are happening in our nation and in real estate.

Nov 22, 2009 03:09 AM
Terry Miller
Miller Homes Group - Tyler, TX
Miller Homes Group and Tyler Apartment Locator

By all means re-blog, please.

Terry

Nov 22, 2009 06:45 AM
Mike Frazier
Carousel Realty of Dyer County - Dyersburg, TN
Northwest Tennessee Realtor

Terry,

These asset companies are "stealing" from Realtors but I am not sure how to stop them. Great post!

Nov 23, 2009 01:11 AM
Not a real person
San Diego, CA

Does anyone really know what NAR actually does for Realtors, other than charging Realtors to use the term "Realtor"? LOL

Just wanted to stop by and say:

Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours!

Nov 26, 2009 07:07 AM