usctrojanman29_IHB
New member
[quote author="IrvineRealtor" date=1251472739][quote author="usctrojanman29" date=1251469417]Besides, when a good portion of the commission goes back to the buyers, it reduces the pushiness of the agent and goes a long way to better align the agents' interests with their clients' interests.</blockquote>
trojanman, don't take this personally... It sounds like you do a good job for your clients and you're impossible not to like. I don't believe you are a pushy agent because, as you've said, you do this on the side, and have other good income.
Semantically, I have to make a correction, though.
I will argue to my grave about these two points, and you keep making them over and over again. I vehemently disagree.
1. <strong>Reducing the commission to the agent does not decrease his or her pushiness.</strong> The agent that works for 1% has to close three times as many deals to make the same $$$ as an agent working for 3%. If that agent <strong><em>needs </em></strong>to make that same $$$ to make ends meet, I would contend that their "pushiness" may actually be increased to make up for volume. This is true when considering both a short-term and long-term basis.
2. <strong>This practice does not do anything to "better align" interests.</strong> The agent just has less skin in the game. Does a lasik surgeon have a client's interests more at heart if he/she works for 50% off? This is particularly true for the long-term view.
Agents are pushy, or they aren't. They act in their client's best interests, or they don't. Decreasing their pay does not improve their performance.
With that said, however, the lesson is not lost on me that several people have come to you for your "kickbacks" as you say...
I constantly have to make sure that my service and my rate are competitive with anything else out there.
-IR2</blockquote>
You are right as well because if an agent offers a portion of their commission to their clients the agent will need to close more transactions which can certain bring out the worst in some agents. So it does depend on the agent because it can cut both ways. You know that I am of the opinion that the compensation structure for realtors needs to be re-vamped. It should be sort of a per view/per hour arrangement for an agent on the buyer will a smaller commission when the transaction actually closes (the commission percentage would decrease as the price continues to increase). You could also expand a similar structure to the listing agent buy charging a listing fee and then a smaller commission percentage (commission percentage would also decrease as the price rises).
At the end of the day, I still believe that we service a different kind of buyer for the most part (and I'm not even considering doing listings at this time). Unlike myself with what I have going on, you can really give a lot of your the time and energy to those folks who need educating and have to see many areas/homes so they can narrow things down. For that, you do deserve a higher compensation. There are clients that would benefit most from having your as their agent, other clients that would be a benefit most from having me as their agent, and of course there are those people that would benefit most from using Redfin.
trojanman, don't take this personally... It sounds like you do a good job for your clients and you're impossible not to like. I don't believe you are a pushy agent because, as you've said, you do this on the side, and have other good income.
Semantically, I have to make a correction, though.
I will argue to my grave about these two points, and you keep making them over and over again. I vehemently disagree.
1. <strong>Reducing the commission to the agent does not decrease his or her pushiness.</strong> The agent that works for 1% has to close three times as many deals to make the same $$$ as an agent working for 3%. If that agent <strong><em>needs </em></strong>to make that same $$$ to make ends meet, I would contend that their "pushiness" may actually be increased to make up for volume. This is true when considering both a short-term and long-term basis.
2. <strong>This practice does not do anything to "better align" interests.</strong> The agent just has less skin in the game. Does a lasik surgeon have a client's interests more at heart if he/she works for 50% off? This is particularly true for the long-term view.
Agents are pushy, or they aren't. They act in their client's best interests, or they don't. Decreasing their pay does not improve their performance.
With that said, however, the lesson is not lost on me that several people have come to you for your "kickbacks" as you say...
I constantly have to make sure that my service and my rate are competitive with anything else out there.
-IR2</blockquote>
You are right as well because if an agent offers a portion of their commission to their clients the agent will need to close more transactions which can certain bring out the worst in some agents. So it does depend on the agent because it can cut both ways. You know that I am of the opinion that the compensation structure for realtors needs to be re-vamped. It should be sort of a per view/per hour arrangement for an agent on the buyer will a smaller commission when the transaction actually closes (the commission percentage would decrease as the price continues to increase). You could also expand a similar structure to the listing agent buy charging a listing fee and then a smaller commission percentage (commission percentage would also decrease as the price rises).
At the end of the day, I still believe that we service a different kind of buyer for the most part (and I'm not even considering doing listings at this time). Unlike myself with what I have going on, you can really give a lot of your the time and energy to those folks who need educating and have to see many areas/homes so they can narrow things down. For that, you do deserve a higher compensation. There are clients that would benefit most from having your as their agent, other clients that would be a benefit most from having me as their agent, and of course there are those people that would benefit most from using Redfin.