Hi. I just got my license. I work full time as a recruiter but I have a VERY flexible schedule and I intend on building my RE business around it.

My idea is to market myself that if you list a house with me or buy with me then 100% of my commissions will go to the charity of your choice. I won't make a dime. I don't need the money and I know my costs will be draining on me because it does take money to make money in this business but I'm fairly confident I can make do without taking any of the money.

I want to keep this up for my first year. Any thoughts?

Most buyers and especially sellers in my area would rather have the commission (or lack of)go back into their pocket instead of a charity and I would expect this to come up fairly often so I am curious on how you will handle this.
I'm not talking about cash back to buyers/sellers but but legal commission reductions instead of donations to charities.

Locally, I think most of our Clients and Customers would prefer to deal with someone who is "not" independently wealthy, but who is still hustling. For some unknown subliminal reason, they like to participate in your success . . . . not help you after you've already succeeded.

So it's a balancing act, to always look like you're an Agent who's still hungry enough to be a Go-Getter . . . . and yet not struggling to make a dime to put food on the table.

If you don't need to make any money in this business, then I think they'd prefer to place their bets on someone who does.

Periodically, we have Brokers who'll advertise that 10% or 25% of their "net" Commissions during a certain time period (usually around some Holiday) will be donated to a charity of the Client's or Customer's choosing . . . . but they don't report back to me on how that works out. All I know is that it can't be so good that they continue to advertise the offer endlessly. And like Summers implied above . . . . if you don't need the money, why not just reduce "my" Commission Fee ?

Also, I wouldn't go out of my way to explain that you can do this because you're a Part-Timer. People expect you to be working for them 24/7. JMHO

I would look at this offer and think how does this guy make money? Why would he work for free? And conclude that there must be some sort of trick or scam in play and avoid it.

If you are that rich and want to do good works? Why not just help a charity of your choice directly?

I'm leaning toward the group consensus so far. If it smacks of "gimmick," people are going to be suspicious. I think that offering reduced commissions or rebates (or however is permitted in your state) is probably going to be more effective.

That said, I think real estate ties in well with charity and community involvement. Working to improve people's lives helps build stronger and more stable communities. That in turn means those communities become more desirable, and people want to move there. See how that works?

I do believe that people will be more impressed if you're out there doing hands-on stuff, rather than seeming like you're just throwing money at the problem. You'll get more interest, I think, by pounding the pavement. I see that as a more effective way of increasing your SOI, and I've met a great many people--all of whom are potential clients or who know potential clients--through local charity activities.

People look at "free" as having no worth. Even if you charge a small listing commission, sellers will perceive that they are exchanging something of value for something of value.

I'm going to go forward with my idea and I'll report back my findings. It's going to be my first year experiment. My long term goal is to eventually open up my own brokerage firm and hopefully by then, people will look at me as a hard working and caring individual. I don't want to be compared to the vacuum cleaner salesmen or used car dealer.

My broker will not allow us to reduce our comissions at all so there will be no lowering rates.

Just picture this....

If you wanted to sell your house and you heard there was a realtor in town that would list it and if it sold then he would donate 100% of his commission to the charity of your own choosing...would you go with him? It would be a way to sell your home and do a good deed at the same time. You might be a little skeptical but what if this same realtor goes over the top and really wows your socks off. Would it be worth referring that agent to your friends in the future?

This is my whole thinking process. Thanks for your input. Any suggestions?

One of our agents tried advertising... 10% of her commission would go to the charity of the sellers choice...didn't get anywhere with it. Sellers are either too suspicious of good intentions or they wanted a "hungry" agent working for them. But you don't know until you try. Get back to us after you have a few sales under your belt. I will be interested to know how it works for you.

Look at it this way.

If I'm selling my house, who am I likely to think is going to work harder for me: the guy working for free, or the guy who stands to make a wad of money when the sale closes?

I've seen agents willing to work for free in order to get referrals...but it does carry an air of desperation.

I'll be interested in seeing how it goes for you. I hope it pays off.

Honestly, this sounds silly. This is a business. Just do the business well and you will get lots of clients and build a nice career. Nobody expects, or would even want, Mother Theresa to list their home. You might be overthinking this whole process looking for some kind of formula. The formula is this: Exceed expectations every day. The rest will take care of itself, and it won't take long.

[quote=SummersAtTheLake]Most buyers and especially sellers in my area would rather have the commission (or lack of)go back into their pocket instead of a charity and I would expect this to come up fairly often so I am curious on how you will handle this.
I'm not talking about cash back to buyers/sellers but but legal commission reductions instead of donations to charities. [/quote]

Agreed!


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I think it will make more of an impact to the community to report what you Have done rather than what you Plan to do. Hope it works for you.

Yeah, I think people would think scam versus your true intent. I'd recommend a percentage. Something like 33%, it would be more believeable even though the 100% is true. Persecption is what counts. I advertise on my site that a portions goes to charities but after reading a few post. I might change it to some form of cash back and recommend putting it toward a charity or a hot tub.

Or you could do both. If your local Homeless Shelter doesn't already have a Hot Tub, then the decision is clear . . . . and you know what to do!

I'm going to save up and buy one. Our Shelter only has a Swedish Sauna and Mohawk Sweat Lodge . . . . I only know about this because I sometimes see them rolling around in the snow banks afterwards. They need a good Hot Tub !

All too often, these Residents are forced to leave here for Florida in the Winter, just to have proper facilities. It's a cryin' shame !

Kind of off topic but I'll say it anyways. I tried to give our homeless shelter a couple VCRs and a huge collection of videos. Half were disney movies, the rest were a mixture of tapes (The can decide what is allowed). They rejected my offering and said they only accepted DVDs (preferable unopened DVDs)??? I was suprised they didnt demand Blueray.