on commissions? Can you have a rate sheet? I know everything in a contract is negotiable, but can you have a suggested rate sheet that breaks down certain services with their prices?

Like for X I'll market in these ways......
And for X-1 I'll market in this way....

Sure. Why not?

I know of one Realtor that advertised a $500 flat fee service. Everyone in the industry hated him because they said he was giving his services away & it made them all look bad. What his competitors didn't know was that only about 10% of the listings he took were for a flat fee. That's because for $500, they got a lockbox, a FSBO sign, and he put their home in the MLS.

The important thing is that his low price advertising got his foot in the door. At the appointment, he wowed them with what what his "full service/full commission" program could do for them, and 90% of them took him up on it.

Check with your Broker though. My broker has a "rule" that we can't take less than 5%..

For the record, we should NOT be discussing specific commission plans. No one wants to end up in jail. Yes discussing specific commission plans (even privately, let alone publicly) is a violation of law.

Also, you might want to check what your state requires as a minimum of performance.

I wasn't asking what everyone does, I was just asking if it were against any specific laws. I am planning on leaving my brokerage to go out on my own, and wanted to make sure any marketing ideas I had weren't illegal.

And, I do believe that we are allowed to discuss types of plans, just not what we are asking for.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^this is totally legitimate....her broker has an in house policy that states his agents must charge a minimum of X%.


an example of an activity that is ---illegal--- is for a group of brokers to sit in a room and conspire to charge the same % for a listing.

so, estate, is my idea ok to do? Have a rate sheet?

Recommend you check with your Board's legal guy or gal.

Here, it would be at the least questionable.

i used a rate sheet.

i have used different commission plans

x% you get this
x% you get this
x% you get this

let them pick it and you dont have to talk about it.

to be honest, i dont use a sheet anymore. i dont even put it in my listing packet. i jsut tell me it is x adn that is because i will sell thier home. i dont justify it(on paper), i ask if they want ot sell their home.

the differnt rates on a sheet is a great way to get them to pick a plan...you will have no objection as you have come up with each plan and they are all plans that you picked!

IM WITH YOU ON THIS NWIN....THIS METHOD OF YOURS HAS TO BE BETTER THEN THE "IM GONNA SEND YOU TO HELL IN A MILLISECOND IF YOU DONT SHUT UP ABOUT BUYERS CONTRACTS"ATTITUDE THAT GNIAR BROKERS ALWAYS SEEM TO HAVE. I MEAN, IF ITS LEGAL FOR EVERYONE TO HAVE 6%NON-VARIABLE ACROSS THE POLICY, THEN WHY CANT WE AT LEAST ASK FOR A COMISSION SCALE OF SOME SORT FOR RESIDENTIAL/COMMERICAL LISTINGS. I'm really tired of having to risk the question in this association.

I usually tell potential clients everything is negotiable HOWEVER for the systems and marketing and unique approach I bring to the table I will only take the listing for XX.

If they won't do that I move on..

Low commissions are just a gimmick to get you in the door.The potential savings is the allure of the ad.

I don't believe in offering different levels of service - at least not if you actually want to sell the house and/or make your seller happy enough to refer you in the future.

Here's an article I wrote on the topic:

Have you ever heard the commission-negotiation-avoidance strategy of creating a menu of packages for a seller to choose among? For example (all figures are illustrative only), you might offer a 4 percent package which includes minimal services; a 5 percent package which has a moderate level of service and a 6 percent package that includes a kitchen-sink level of service.

Sounds good, doesn't it? After all, it demonstrates to the seller what you actually DO to sell a house and probably reduces the likelihood of his asking for a discount. If he wants to pay less, he gets less. HIS choice.

Sorry, but I think this is a lousy idea. Why?

Oh, let me count the ways ...


To continue, click here: http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20080827_menuservices.htm

I agree. The idea that you can taylor your practice to give less service is silly to me. I do the same things for everyone. I have taken lower fee's. (How many Realtor's does it take to change a lightbulb?) And it seems that those were the transactions that deserved a higher fee.

for the purpose of this post all commission stated are for educational purposes only and do not represent what you will or should charge. make the commission relevant to the work that you do.


Jennifer,

my listing packet used to include a
4,5 and 6% listing...i never sold the 4%!

the purpose of the illustration was to show a client the value of my 5 or 6. i would offer a fsbo exclusive agency for a higher number.

due to the fact taht almost all of my business (that i prospect for) is expired listings i odnt offer anything else otehr than my one commission plan.

Real estate coach Todd Bates is actually a big fan of the listing menu. it does tend to make people get the higher percent if used correctly.

I know that you offered at one time 2 different plans. one was slightly reduced if the seller paid for things up front and one was a little higher because there was more risk for you. absolutley nothing wrong with taht.

______________________________-

to the op


for example...my 5% was exclusive right and my 6% was exclusive agency.

the commissions stated are what i was charging at one time and are no longer relevant. The commissions stated are examples of what someone could charge and are in no way shape or form a means of fixing commissions as everyone charges what they choose. that is waht makes talking about my commissions OK. if i were to state that agents should all charge the same thing i would be in direct violation. however i charge what i charge and soe does everyone else. because there is no hint of trying to conspire to get others to charge what i charge, i am ok.

http://www.hg.org/antitrust.html


i take advantage of my legal hotline and encourage otehr agents to do the same. the calls are paid for (by your dues). i have a max number of calls that i can make and i save them for when i have an issue and need some advice. at the end of the quarter when the calls renew thenselves i know how many calls i have left and take advantage of that by making a list of things that i want to talk to an attorney about (for free!) and go down the list! it is a great way to get some noncredit continuing education that is probably more relevant than the ce that we actually have to go to because it pertains to real world scenarios.

in fact i have spoken to them about the commission issue because i have given classes and i wanted to make sure that i was not in violation of anything while giving a class to a bunch of agents.

i start my conversation similar to the beginning of this post. lets face it, when you have a room full of new agents, they need to learn how to put thier marketing material together. what they charge is up to them.

let me give a real case (paraphrased) to show a situation that was ILLEGAL.

there was a room full of brokers that were invited by one broker in particular. the idea of his meeting was to get all of the brokers to start charging the same commission. one of the brokers left the room, but did not report it (he was charged as well). i dont know if he was found guilty, but from the case study that was presented to me he was charged. all 7 (i think it was 7) brokers were in direct violation of antitrust laws. there is to be absolutley no fixing of commissions as that would not create a free market.


in my listing presentation i specifically state that commissions are negotialbe (to cover my rear) and that i am not allowed to state commission must be x%, but i charge x% because..... then i state facts. in your area 92% of the co-ops are at x%. and make that as an illustration to show why -i- charge x%. i want to pay out more than the competition, and if they dont want to pay that....fine, somone else can list them.


i knwo i will come under some flack for this, but here it goes.

i had a seller come to me that used to be an agent and broker(about a year ago, she was in teh business for over 20 years). she stated that she wanted to sell and fast! she wanted to pay out a high co-op and list WELL BELOW comps (for me to state that someone is priced low means they must be low if you have read any of my posts). her deal was that she wanted me to reduce my commission on the listing side. there was not much argument or debate on my side as it was easy money and i was basically handling the paperwork and doing no marketing...the price sold the house... we were under contract in a few day....time from the listing to settlement was less than 30 days. was that well worth it for me to reduce...yep....fact is that there are thousands of agents who would hve taken her up on it and if i fought for that one i would have lost it....she already had a lockbox on there so i did not have to put one on the property and i actually canceled the signpost because there was not muhc point of putting it up after the house is under contract(sure for "publicity", but i dont really care about that, i just wanted to sell the house).

do i do that normally....heck no, but sometimes there are circumstances that warrant a change in plans.