Great forum, I've been here awhile but this is my first post.

I'm a new agent, just two months in now, and want to know other Broker's opinions on this.

My broker went out of town last weekend and asked me to show a house to some of his out of town clients. They had put in a contract on the home contingent on them viewing and approving it. My Broker explained that I would receive no compensation for this, except that he would "owe me one".

The people did not like the home and asked me to show them other homes, which I did. They found a home they liked and we have put in an offer. My Broker advised me today that if this deal closes that he will take 50% of my commission because they were his clients.

Is this fair?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Your first deal. You may still need your broker's mentorship in finishing this deal, make sure it closes. Isnt 50% a good deal? Do you know how much some agents spend even before they earn their first commission, trying to find the 1st client?
I would treat this as your "education/ marketing" fee. Do a couple and you'll get better.

Sounds pretty arbitrary to me. He might as well have said he'll take 90%. Or 99%.

Basically he's making up the rules as he goes along.

That said, did you ask for permission to work with these buyers beyond what he originally asked for which was showing them the house undere contract? If so, that would have been the time to negotiate what your split would be on the deal if you found something else for them. If not, you're lucky to get anything because you sort of "stole" the buyers from your broker.

I'm not a big fan of associates competing with brokers for just this sort of reason. It's a conflict of interests, and the associate has ittle say in how things pan out.

Thanks for your response. Let me clarify a little. This is actually my 4th deal (It's been an awesome first two months, and I recognize that my Broker has been a large part of that).

This 50% of my commission that he is taking is AFTER the 50% he get for his Brokarage fee. I sold a $150,000 vacation home listed with another company and I'm only getting $1312.50. I wouldn't mind paying him a 25% referral fee on my commission, but I thought 50% was a bit much.

But I know he is the Broker and can do what he wants with his business, and I can be a hot head sometimes. That's why I am seeking the advise of Brokers on this and not other nonobjective agents.

Thanks!

Asking for permission to work with his buyers and negotiating my split then is good advise, I should have done that in hind sight.

My Broker was actually grateful that I sold the buyers something though. The buyers hated the place as soon as we pulled up and were very clear that they would not go through with the contract. My broker was on vacation and the buyers live 6 hours from our town and wanted to buy that day and be back to work on Monday. If I hadn't have sold them anything they would have gone to our competition and my Broker understood that and was glad I did.

FYI I'm not a broker although I'll be one soon enough.

In a perfect world, I don't believe brokers should compete with their agents; shouldn't be selling at all. They should pass buyers and sellers along to their agents. But that's just my opinion.

god help us, jflynn will be a broker

I agree that it's not in the office's best interest to have a competing broker but I have seen very few.

Your broker should have taken the normal referral fee for your office, if anything. The loosey-goosey, "now I'll take X amount because of whatever unforseen scenerio," is not fair and I can understand why you're upset.

2 weeks ago a new agent in the office was navigating her 3rd deal which was complicated by leaseback and financing issues and our broker told her that he was going to take an additional 50% of her commission because of the time he would have to spend time on it. She couldn't say no because she had to have the help.

That was it for me. I'm not an uptight person but when it comes to business and my money I want it all laid out in advance, black and white, no surprises. There were other problems with that broker but witnessing that incident was the final straw and I left to work alone under my own license.

I went through this at an office I worked at once, and made it very clear that because we had no referral agreement in writing I owed my broker no referral fee.

It was hard to say this, but I thought it was fair and just. He got mad at me and threw a tantrum. I said if you take a referral fee on this transaction I will leave this office.

He didn't take the fee.

He would advise any of us that if we had sent our clients out with another agent we should have filled out a referral form ahead of time. There should be no special treatment just because he owns the place.

JMHO

Care to elaborate?

Written office policies are the most important first step in deciding which broker to work for. In the absence of any policies, it's time to move on to a company that has established policies and "truth in employment". Everything else is detrimental to the agents bottom line and gambling with their income.

I cant agree more. My broker makes **some** things up as he goes along (to suit him of course!)... and I dont think that's fair.

That's why we are called independent. We have the choice to move on anytime we want.

Excellent advice all around, thank you very much! I'm going to stay with this Broker because he has been a great mentor and I get almost all of the leads that come into the office here (my Broker and I are the only two full-time Realtors). But when this issue comes up again I will get it in writing that I will only pay him a 25% referral fee like I would with any other agent.

jflynn,
no elaboration needed, you know why