That's like saying, "Obviously, the relationship between agents, mortgage brokers, and title insurers is to make money off homeowners".

I do not sell clients names to Title Co's or Mortgage Brokers or ask for a kickback.

Likewise, I don't sell customer names to Zillow or visa versa.

And "kickbacks" are under the table deals. Every consumer who uses RealtyBaron is told explicitly how we're compensated.

(do over)

But you do sell them to other brokers in exchange for a referral fee.

Which begs the question: do you *explicitly* tell the clients you refer to other brokers that a 20%-30% referral fee will be paid to you as a result?

Sorry, Paul, I'll have to disagree. That sounds like 30-45 minutes total of your time invested in the "transaction" before the client has even set foot in his/her new city.

Marc, Here is the difference for us between a referral from another agent and a generic referral.
I would say that close to 90% of people who are referred to me end up buying or selling their home with me. They aren't just a "lead". I don't need to make sure they are serious or qualified, and they trust the person who has referred them to me, are expecting my call and ready to work with me. So I just about every "lead" I get is ready to go. They'll be out in 2 weeks to look at houses, and I get them on my calendar.
On the other hand, with lead generation companies, the leads may or may not be serious, and they may or may not be qualified. They don't know me from Adam, and you can't tell them anything about how great I am. We have to talk to 30 people before we find anyone who is REALLY serious. That means we would on average work 20+ hours just to convert one of those leads.
Bottom line: leads from your service need CONVERTED. Leads from other agents come to us already converted.

Not any more.
They are free without fees and kickbacks (under the table without disclosure).
The only reason you can sell your referrals is, because of the many new agents in the business who have no referral base and need the money.
If they could spend on self marketing, what they have to pay you, they'd be better off, but many agents don't look at it that way, to them it's "free money".
But you do sell them! To whom is not important to you.
You sell information to who can give you the best return. You are a user of information, not producing anything of value for society. You are the the kingpin of insider trading.

Carla, thank you for responding to my original question with sound reasoning. I appreciate your insight.