Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The reason you were told not to do that is risk management. The Fair Housing Law fines are huge. You can be totally innocent but having to defend yourself could cost a brokerage $100k in attorney fees. As such, many brokers tend to err on the side of being very restrictive about what you can or can't say so they can minimize the risk of a lawsuit to the brokerage.
Yeah...people often don't realize that legal counsel doesn't come cheap. Discretion is often the better part of valor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by City Guy997S
Realtors can be like used car salesmen without the cars.....or they can be superstars.
I prefer full time realtors, not waiters/waitresses or soccer moms doing it as a side career. I think websites such as zillow/realtor dot com have taken a lot of the leg work away from realtors because they show recent sales, tons of pics/videos.
The commission still bothers me. 5-6% of a gross sale is crazy especially in a dwindling market. My accountant doesn't charge me 5% of my gross income, my lawn guy doesn't charge me 5% of my lot value to cut the grass. Car salesman doesn't add his 5% to the cost of the car. Yacht salesman do get 10% so I guess that really is a kick in the gut but since I don't have a yacht I don't need to worry about that one!
Almost every sales compensation model I've seen has been, in one way or another, a percentage. Percentage of total price, percentage of gross margin (Car salesman,) etc...Or, a "per unit" flat rate, but that's a problem since it removes any incentive at all to look out for your end on price.
Anytime you pay someone to sell something for you, its a percentage. If I brought chickens to the local barnyard auction I'd pay a 20% commission and the buyer would pay 10%. Consignment shops? Same thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by City Guy997S
In years past the % payout probably paid for the hours spent looking at all of the houses but with the internet I suspect that has cut the "browsing time" down significantly. I have also witnessed the selling realtor simply trying to get a contract at any price because her % is free money regardless of what the owner gets (net). I saw this one lady list for 649K, then on the first open house mention the owner will take 570K for a quick sale. I was stunned that she was so quick to give away 80K of the owners money!
A home nearby just listed for 50 million......neighbor who is a very part time realtor mentions if she had that listing she could make a million dollars in one sale. She has no buyers at that price point, she has zero experience in that high end market and barely answers her phone for a 200K buyer yet she is fantasizing about the 1mm commission? BTW the house that is listed is valued by the county for 19mm. I'd love to be the buyers broker and ask how they plan to get an appraisal that is over 2.5X the appraised value. The highest sale in that area was 32mm in the last real estate boom 12-14 yrs ago and that guy will be lucky to ever see that price again. My guess: Selling realtor stroked the clients ego with the high list price to secure the listing regardless of what the market value actually is.....just like on "Million Dollar Listing" tv show. Next scene, well we got an offer of 22 million and we should really consider it.......commercial break........seller but you said 50 million........realtor, late on his car/mtg payment.....yeah but we need to take this offer because after one open house we only had one offer!
No different than fantasizing about winning the lottery. Or, when I sold cars, a Rock Star coming in and buying the whole band cars (a la Lionel Ritche did when one of the first Commodore's albums went Gold or Platinum.)
But a $50MM property, or a $20MM property, even in the priciest locales, isn't likely to sell in a hurry. And hopefully, if one is competent enough to come into ownership of such a property, they are also competent enough to negotiate a contract for listing the property, find a broker, and have done some research.
Realtors can be like used car salesmen without the cars.....or they can be superstars.
I prefer full time realtors, not waiters/waitresses or soccer moms doing it as a side career. I think websites such as zillow/realtor dot com have taken a lot of the leg work away from realtors because they show recent sales, tons of pics/videos.
The commission still bothers me. 5-6% of a gross sale is crazy especially in a dwindling market. My accountant doesn't charge me 5% of my gross income, my lawn guy doesn't charge me 5% of my lot value to cut the grass. Car salesman doesn't add his 5% to the cost of the car. Yacht salesman do get 10% so I guess that really is a kick in the gut but since I don't have a yacht I don't need to worry about that one!
In years past the % payout probably paid for the hours spent looking at all of the houses but with the internet I suspect that has cut the "browsing time" down significantly. I have also witnessed the selling realtor simply trying to get a contract at any price because her % is free money regardless of what the owner gets (net). I saw this one lady list for 649K, then on the first open house mention the owner will take 570K for a quick sale. I was stunned that she was so quick to give away 80K of the owners money!
A home nearby just listed for 50 million......neighbor who is a very part time realtor mentions if she had that listing she could make a million dollars in one sale. She has no buyers at that price point, she has zero experience in that high end market and barely answers her phone for a 200K buyer yet she is fantasizing about the 1mm commission? BTW the house that is listed is valued by the county for 19mm. I'd love to be the buyers broker and ask how they plan to get an appraisal that is over 2.5X the appraised value. The highest sale in that area was 32mm in the last real estate boom 12-14 yrs ago and that guy will be lucky to ever see that price again. My guess: Selling realtor stroked the clients ego with the high list price to secure the listing regardless of what the market value actually is.....just like on "Million Dollar Listing" tv show. Next scene, well we got an offer of 22 million and we should really consider it.......commercial break........seller but you said 50 million........realtor, late on his car/mtg payment.....yeah but we need to take this offer because after one open house we only had one offer!
I agree with you about these people. Whenever I'm on the other side of a deal those agents expect me to do their job for them because they have this other job that has to have priority. It hurts their client too when they have to wait several days for their agent to have any time for them.
But that’s not what you said. Randomly referring to someone as ESL is not hurling an insult.
And even if it was. Where is the adverse impact?
It is an insult (and a racially charged one) when you are in the midst of a disagreement and nobody is talking about anything to do with ESL, education, learning English, foreign languages, etc. The real estate industry's long time problem of using 'coded language' for race and ethnicity is well known so little benefit of the doubt is given when questionable language is used in a questionable way. Rightly or wrongly there is no 'innocent until proven guilty' when it comes to this.
I'm glad you asked about adverse impact.
Adverse impact to the licensed agent could be extremely severe. In addition to potential licensing and horrific legal problems, they could become the next:
Lauren Houston (loss of career as a real estate agent and reputational damage for racially charged posts in her personal capacity)
Flock Real Estate Group (reputational damage to the firm for using racially coded language in ads)
Lynne Hix-DiSanto (loss of career as a real estate agent and reputational damage for racially charged posts in her personal capacity)
I agree with Silverfall's point that you don't want to do ANYTHING questionable in this area as even defending yourself can easily cost you 100k+. That's why this shows such monumentally poor judgment.
Finally, these comments most certainly will not help if this agent is slapped with a fair housing charge by a foreigner with an accent. If i were bringing a case against this agent, these comments would form exhibit 1 and I'd use them to demonstrate a pattern of behavior.
by now, you should be retired from the proceeds of your damages lawsuit on this.
We've just begun our fight for justice.
I rep'd you for this as well. Believe it or not, this was the first rep i've ever given anyone. You share my vision and I wanted to let you know that I appreciate your support.
It is an insult (and a racially charged one) when you are in the midst of a disagreement and nobody is talking about anything to do with ESL, education, learning English, foreign languages, etc. The real estate industry's long time problem of using 'coded language' for race and ethnicity is well known so little benefit of the doubt is given when questionable language is used in a questionable way. Rightly or wrongly there is no 'innocent until proven guilty' when it comes to this.
I'm glad you asked about adverse impact.
Adverse impact to the licensed agent could be extremely severe. In addition to potential licensing and horrific legal problems, they could become the next:
Lauren Houston (loss of career as a real estate agent and reputational damage for racially charged posts in her personal capacity)
Flock Real Estate Group (reputational damage to the firm for using racially coded language in ads)
Lynne Hix-DiSanto (loss of career as a real estate agent and reputational damage for racially charged posts in her personal capacity)
I agree with Silverfall's point that you don't want to do ANYTHING questionable in this area as even defending yourself can easily cost you 100k+. That's why this shows such monumentally poor judgment.
Finally, these comments most certainly will not help if this agent is slapped with a fair housing charge by a foreigner with an accent. If i were bringing a case against this agent, these comments would form exhibit 1 and I'd use them to demonstrate a pattern of behavior.
Sorry, but you still have to establish what the adverse impact to the consumer was. Referring to someone as ESL is just that. English as a Second Language.
Your inability to establish this is why you don’t have a point.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
