Personally I do not mind the 8% fee off the top that goes to Weichert because of the advertising that Weichert does for all their listings online (online real estate ads in the NY Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and a NJ newspaper - all places where our customers come from) in addition to the call center which enables buyers to speak to an agent within 15 minutes when they call on the listing.

My previous broker charged a 6% "broker fee" on top of the split but never did anything with that. At least with the 8% to Weichert, you know that it's provding you with something good to impress your sellers with and possibly hasten the sale of your listing.


What I hate about Weichert is how they make you pay $200 for 4 day training sessions to be one of the agents for the call center, and then they don't even provide you with coffee while there. That's really bad IMHO.

Costs are typically the same for everyone generally.In other words all the burger or pizza restaurants have almost the same food cost if they are national chains.So it comes down to your little differences and how you package and market the product.

Whether you call it a trans fee or just simply charge a higher franchise fee the costs is built in.Example some brokers would charge say a 6 percent franchise fee and no transacation fee.
Others charge a 4 percent franchise fee and a transaction fee.The costs might be the same but with the transaction fee the consumer is seeing it on the front end.

Generally when you build in costs you do it so that the fess are hard to question.I had a matress guy tell me one time that they spin new matress models as they are constantly improving there products.The REAL reason he told me is for SEALY,and all the other brands to add one little thing to there beds so they can change model numbers constantly.This way the consumer can't get a baseline to drive down costs on the product.

If people know what stuff costs they hammer it down.If they don't know what stuff costs it's harder to negotiate and know if you got a good deal or not.

The agents care about what they get from the broker.I think if you are going to carry agents you have to go "ALL IN" and give everything to it to be fair to your agents.Sadly some brokers view adding a few agents to supplement and fix there brokerage which is a deadly combination.

the first broker i was with charged a 6% franchise fee, a 350 transaction fee and put a new agent on a 50% split....rofl!!!!!!!!!!

once i learned a little about the business i left and have not regretted it one bit!!!!

did i mention that my original broker went out of business?


with realtor.com your listings you are on over 900 different websites! call realtor.com and ask....they can give you a printout.

There was an article recently in the Realtor Magazine about these being challenged in courts because no additional services are provided for this additional fee.

http://www.realtor.org/rmolaw_and_ethics/in+court/pastarticles/0809incourttransactionfees

Here's another:
http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/All/B415A9DA7

There is no tangible benefit for my client. Its nothing more than an income stream for the company.

Although I don't agree with charging my clients a transaction fee, I have a bigger problem with my broker taking it from me if its not collected from my client.

What bothers me most about transaction fees is that they seem very gimmicky. We were given no good 'script' for the fees. Just general mumbo jumbo about office overhead or something along those lines. It reminded me of the type of sales tactics used in many industries that I really resent as a consumer. You know how that works... you agree to a purchase and then read the fine print and find other hidden charges. Of course, no client was ever forced to agree to these fees. And I can remember getting into a bit of an argument with my broker once. I told him I refused to eat the fee. As I remember, it was NOT deducted from my commission check.

Flactem, I'm curious about this fee - been thinking about this a little. Does your broker elaborate on what the fee covers? How much it costs? How much would you have to pay if your buyer refuses to pay?

It's not uncommon to see some offices charge their clients an additional "transaction" fee of $250 - $350 dollars but exactly for what I'm not sure...they don't seem to "do" anything with the money besides put it in the broker's account....

Perky, The company's only justification for the the fee is a vague "it covers some of the cost of doing business/handling paperwork/archiving documents" which translates to direct income to the bottom line.

The amount of the fee is irrelevant. The precedent that it sets is the problem.

The sense of self entitlement for payment for services that are not even provided is on the verge of larceny. Especially when the client refuses to pay it and the amount of the fee is deducted from the agents commission.

If you haven't read the articles I posted and you are charging a transaction fee, you really should.

If you don't know what they cover, you are opening yourself up to these lawsuits! As litigious as people are, once there is a precedent, the number of lawsuits will increase exponentially. And someone will absolutely figure out a way to make it a class, for a class action lawsuit and then your clients will get the opportunity to be part of a suit delivered to their door by the USPS.

TB, can you provide a link to the articles?

Thank you.

Scroll up to my post yesterday at 2:56pm in this thread.

The issue IS NOT the transaction fees.The issue is how the broker is allocating costs to stay afloat.Many other brokerages are doing this they just have it built into the franchise fee,the commission split,or monthly dues.

Because the agent and buyer and sellers can SEE IT they complain.

I can guarantee you other companies have these operational costs built in in ways that are not as noticeable.

If I was this broker I would immediately restructure the fess into something else but still make the money.What it costs is what it costs to run a brokerage.If the agents feel it is too much or not enough is offered then they can leave.I just think this brokerage went about it the wrong way.

Craig Proctor has a similar fee for working with buyers that they pay upfront.

There is great confusion and transposing in this thread of a TRANSACTION FEE that is charged to the client, and other fees charged to the agent. This thread was meant to address the $149 or $195 or whatever fees that are tacked on in the listing agreement for miscellany (lining of the brokerages pocket, because the agent never sees any of it, despite being the one encountering the costs of marketing).

Again, we aren't talking about fees that your broker charges you, like franchise fees or splits. Am I right, original poster?

TB - it amounts to the same thing as the agent being charged...

If you're an agent and you have a good buyer...you explain the system and the fees and the buyer says "i'm not paying that crap - i'm spending enough already"...the agent now has a choice...

1) pay the fee themselves
2) try to get the broker to waive the fee (good luck), or
3) lose the buyer

What would you do?

Make no mistake - the agent is responsible for the fee no matter who is "technically" supposed to pay it.

Unless it was spelled out in my ICA, I wouldn't pay it, and I certainly wouldn't charge my client. Believe me - I know. My first year in the business was with a franchise who had one and I absolutely NEVER did a transaction with one in it, and I closed about 30 deals.

And if it was in my ICA, well, I wouldn't hang my license with that company. I don't charge fees that don't result in higher levels of service. It's like selling that "special undercoating" on a new car.