Once in a great while I'll get someone asking me to pay a referral fee to a relative/friend just because they have a license.
For instance. They see your advertisement, they call or email, you're working with them with info, maybe even showing, ... Then later they say, my aunt, mom, sister, friend has a real estate license, would you pay them a referral fee. Usually they don't ask if I've shown them property as as we've built a repore by then but it's happened and to note their licensee has never contacted me from start to finish so I don't know if they would actually take it.
My answer is no I would not pay them as they didn't refer you. If they would like to represent you, show you the property, or at least write the contract and take it to closing I would share the commission, but I would not pay them just because they have a license as they did not refer you.
It amazes me people would ask me that, but what amazes me even more is if a broker would actually have the nerve to accept it! It's never come to fruition because I do say no so I really don't know if mom,sister,friend would have the nerve to accept such a deal. My guess is they would take free money.
What? I'm going to call them up and say, hey, I need to send you an agreement to pay you some money, your friend is buying land! Or they'll call me up and say, hey, my cousin called you about property, I want to refer him for a fee.
I would never accept such a deal being on the other end to get something for nothing, plus I know by accepting $$ that also adds me to the liablity factor if something went wrong.
Any suggestion phrases for a nice line to explain no and why?
Now for the others if you care to read:
1. I've even had brokers ask me to l list their property as they've either had no luck selling it or are out of state and can't show it. But then they have the nerve to ask me to pay them a referral fee. I say no to those too. I suggest they keep trying to sell their property, find someone else and if they can't get the job done, I'll get it done but not at a discount. The work is the same for me whether they are brokers or not.
2. Then the trickest one of all is when a broker wants to buy my listing. I or associate have worked with her/him like any other shopper, showing the land, writing the deal, all the info.... blah blah, and representing them, then that broker wants you to pay them a commission because she/he is licensed too and they see it as a
professional curtosy.
That one is a tricky one for me. Not to be greedy at all, I just can't see it their way. If they bought from me just like a layperson not in the industry and I've done the same work I can't see paying them to buy something and I don't.
I've never ever takin' a commission on anything I've bought. I called the broker, they showed, and if I bought it, I would even write up the contract just to save myself future aggravation. Now that I think of it, when I bought my first house, the broker kept calling me saying, I'm waiting on the contract! My contracts were stolen in the office(way before internet contracts) so I didn't have anything to work with. Finally I got one from someone else. I worked for a developer then so we didn't have regular forms, they were all specific to his properties. It never occured to me to ask that listing agent for a commission!
Points of view are welcome on this topic! I know I'm not a mainstream thinker here so bracing myself and looking forward to your answers & thoughts on the subject.
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