Can I get some feedback? I am just a little over a year in and am starting to get listings to go with my buyers. I have two up right now, both at 6%...oh, here is my disclaimer about no-set-commission, all-discussions-are-relative, etc...and today I took one at 4%, because the woman is very close to upside down and she'd rather get it sold than go into short-sale or foreclosure. Is that wrong?

there's no such thing as "wrong" when you're doing a favor for somebody...so long as everybody's on the same page about what you're providing for that 4%...it doesn't matter.

Take one at 4 in my office and you better have a good explanation. You cant take EVERY listing. Even if youre new. But hey, get your feet wet. Is it over 300K? a 2% coop will look pretty paltry in the mls but who knows.

It all depends on how much your time is worth.

Merkaba, that's a BIG issue for me. I DON'T LOOK AT THE BAC WHEN I SHOW FOR BUYERS. Honest to g-d. My job is to show my clients the homes that match their criteria, not the homes that match their criteria and make me at least 2.5%.

I do look at the co-broke. But I don't decide to not show it because of it. I do decide not to show homes if I happen to know the listing agent is a **$#(^& (insert your favorite bad word there.)

DebT - I never looked at the co-op either, but most agents DO. And these days, if I were still selling actively, I probably would, too - after all, I have plenty of inventory to choose from, why shoot myself in the foot for no reason?

In Denver, the co-op is almost always 2.8% or more. Even if the listing agent "negotiates" a commission of 4% or 8%, the co-op is the same. I like it that way. So, if I were to take a listing at, let's say, 4%, I'd still offer a full co-op, whatever that figure might be.

I do full service for 4%, had an offer from agent asking for his co-op cut to be 3% instead of 2%. He was careful how he added this to offer to stay within the law, wonder if he added this after offer was signed. Other agent "I've been in this business 30 years, this is what I deserve"--no my client said, took another offer,was her decision but pissed her off he asked for more $. I do worry about my clients homes being "overlooked".

Mark, I'm just curious. Don't you think that if you choose to discount your commission, the discount should come off the listing side? In this market, I would feel like I was doing my sellers a disservice by offering a lower co-op. I do show my buyers whatever fits their needs, whether it's a 2% co-op or a 4+% co-op, but (at least in my market) I am trying to give agents more reasons to show my listings, not a reason to "skip" it. I agree with Jennifer, if I took a 4% listing, I would still offer the full co-op (which in my market is 3%).

i have 1 listing right now at 5.5% i offered 3% to the buyers agent so that it is more competitive. i still make 2.5 on the deal. do what you have to do, close the deal and move onto the next. the people that i notice worrying about 1 deal probably only have the 1 deal to worry about so they might let it fall appart over a little bit of money that does not even exist until the deal closes.

Good for you! Helping a seller if they're in a tough spot shows compassion and I'm a believer of charma.

We just took a listing that offers 2.5% on the buying side and 1% on MY side. The family was upside down, moving out of state because of their job, and were just frantic. Even at a 3.5% total selling commission, they're still bringing about $10K to the table to close IF they close... and they'll have to put THAT on a credit card.

For family and close friends, I'll cut my listing commission as much as I can to cover my costs. I never reduce the co-op commission though

We're all free to do what we want on an individual basis as long as your broker will let you. If you're not happy with your broker, get your broker's license and do it for yourself.

If we can't help people out in life the water will get very shallow. Just be sure that you offer enough co-op so as not to actually hurt the sale of the house. Take the hit on your side.

Agents do look at the co-op and if it doesn't sell you won't be helping.