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I let a girl come on to my 1 man show office with knowing, ok, we'll see how it goes than after a year we'll revisit it. I knew I could keep the office open and support my family, but was not sure I could afford that for 2. Last year we both made a living, she actually netted more than me. This year is not looking good. I'm only supporting the office now on my personal sacrafices of beloved personal property sales.
She was supposed to start paying for advertising after I got her on her feet. She never spent any of her commissions towards the business and advertising.
The leads were good, sales, and calls were good, so she never had any reason to put any $$ into advertising. It came too easy. Now the market is slow I'm back to I can't afford to support the 2 of us and last year I'm not so sure it was helpful or hurtful for me as it was.
She's on her last dime and the only way she's going to make it is if I boost advertising which I need to do for myself. But to do that, is like at this point increase 100%, but to reap much less than 1/2 in return. seems dumb on my part for survival.
Many brokers and developers are cutting back and laying off now. My associate has lots of listings now that she's worked for but not willing to pay for in advertising.
Now it seems it's do or die for me and my office and I think I need to let her go.
How do I do that?
She has listings counting on her and she's counting on her listings. But for her to make a living I have to increase my expenditure but not willing to do that as she won't put any of her own $$ to make it happen.
We're expecting to hear our straight talk speech anytime now. Now we have hundreds of agents and have as much free direction as we want but even we're suffering companywide from the downturn. Our agency offers us all the advertising we want, office space, phones and faxes, signs and internet. The split is even down the middle with a slight edge in favor of the company. Really a very nice deal. But that upfront kindness is being abused by many slacker agents, even some former top dogs who just seem to have taken the summer off.
What I think is coming is simple, either dive in and work harder or get out and go somewhere else. Simple as that. Even the largest agencies, like ours, just can't keep pouring money out the window and supporting agents that aren't coming through.
On a smaller scale such as yours, a variation of the same speech might just do the trick. Explain it honestly, you simply can't operate at the same level as before and hope to survive. Let her stay if she wishes but redesign the split so what you expect her to kick in comes in whether or not she likes it. Stand your ground and put it on paper. Remember, it does no good to have you both go down the drain. If she has to go elsewhere for you to stay afloat, so be it.
As far as the listings, and I don't know your state's ways, but here they belong (on paper) to the agency, not the agent. That doesn't prevent agents from trying to get the sellers to pull in favor of another agency. To be kind and to hopefully keep the listings, offer her a referral fee when and if they sell.
You've talked about this situation before. What you need to do is sit her down and explain to her that the situation has changed and after doing some investigating you've realized that agents who receive 75% of the commissions are also paying for their own advertising or paying a desk fee. And that is what you are able to offer her now. If she doesn't want it, then she needs to move on. The listings are yours as the broker, if you want them and able to handle them.
You may also want to sit down and see if all that money you are pumping into printed advertising is actually worth the ROI and if perhaps you might reap more from internet exposure.
I don't believe so. Our broker would like to keep the listings but realizes it's usually the agent / client relationship that got the listing. Any Relocation listings do stay with our broker.
We leave it to the homeowner to decide.
Some national brokers have some strong rules on this subject I suspect, in order to keep the listings.
Agents change brokers all the time in my area. I am not aware of a single broker that was able to retain a single ( non relo) listing when the agent left.
Our listing contracts all include a cancellation clause effective after X days of notice.The client re-executes a new listing agreement under the new broker's umbrella and off they go.
My licence hangs with a large national firm that renegotiates splits annually based upon the previous year's production and most agents begin the new year at a 50-50 split and work from there. Given the market of the past year, there are many, many agents who have gone from 70% back to a 50-50 split with the opportunity to earn more as they close more.
Instead of agents fleeing, my office is attracting agents from so many smaller independently-owned franchise firms who are in serious trouble. And yeah, all their active listings find a new home with my broker.
I am surprised that there has not been a major fallout of agents, in my area, even though it's personally costing most agents more than they will make this year.
REALTORS®, prior to or after terminating their relationship with their current firm, shall not induce clients of their current firm to cancel exclusive contractual agreements between the client and that firm. This does not preclude REALTORS® (principals) from establishing agreements with their associated licensees governing assignability of exclusive agreements. (Adopted 1/98)
The seller signs a contract with the brokerage, not the agent. Those listings belong to the broker, not the agent. It is against the code of ethics to
Quote:
get the sellers to pull in favor of another agency
. Now. It's quite possible in your own contract with your broker, should you leave and the seller wishes to go with you, your broker has agreed to allow it. That's really quite generous since the information, customers/clients, etc you gather are proprietary to your broker and those of us who hang our licenses with such brokers are best to keep that in mind. But to intentionally entice sellers to break the contract with the original broker? Nah. Not correct.
Last edited by palmcoasting; 07-12-2008 at 06:23 AM..
Reason: can't spell. :)
Our company strives so much to keep the client happy we don't make an issue if they follow the agent. The agent most of the time has a personal relationship and established trust with the seller. (Except Relo)
Technically, I guess a buyer who has signed a Buyers Rep Agreement would stay with the broker also. I wonder if many brokers make that an issue. (Except Relo)
Thanks guys. Yes, I've posted before as I didn't think I was charging enough then found out I was not. I know if I charged her more she could not stay because her usual sales consist of really cheap property, so the commissions are not that large anyway. My VP was no help, now we have a new VP, I posed this to the regional and the new one a month ago, and still waiting for their help. So, I come to you.
I'm not too worried about the listings if they stay or go and I know they stay with the brokerage. Out in her area, they are cheap properties which usually brings very difficult sellers and buyers to work with. My guess is she stays with me because I'm sure she's checked with other ones and they prob. charge 50% too, plus with me there's no competition in the office. Yes, straight talk is where I need to go with this and thinking she's going to have to pay for her own advertising and some office expenses which I know she can't do. Thanks.
Standard of Practice 16-20
But to intentionally entice sellers to break the contract with the original broker? Nah. Not correct.
Correct? No. Against the SOP? Yes.
But the real world's a funny place to live in sometimes.
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