16 Min

By Point2NLS

There is room in the real estate industry for new business models.  Internet technology has changed the rules in the real estate industry.  Home buyers benefit from technology in that they can now look at homes on the internet and screen some out instead of having to take the time to go see them all or to have to spend a lovely Sunday afternoon driving around and traipsing through open houses.

I recently had a buyer call on one of my listings.  When I met him at the property he gave me a business card for a local real estate agent who has a discount brokerage.  The buyer told me that his agent told him to go look at homes until he finds one that he likes.  Once the buyer identifies the home he is to call the agent who will write an offer on it.  The agent will then refund most of the commission to the buyer.

If the buyer would have made an offer on my listing I would have kept most of the buyer's agent commission.  I can do that because I spent time with the buyer, showed the property and followed up with a phone call with answers to his questions. I have done it before. I almost can't wait until an agent tries to extract a full commission from one of my listings just for writing an offer, after I have shown the property to the buyer and answered all of his or her questions.  There won't be anything left to refund from the buyer.

Giving the buyer or seller a discount is a great idea but if it is done by getting some one else to do all of the work I don't believe that it is a viable business model.

Comments

[Rob Beland]

I've had a similar experience with a buyer. I showed a buyer a property three seperate times. He first saw the property by himself, then he came with his wife and father, then he came back with his contractor to price some repairs.

After the third showing I got a call from a realtor who said she had been hired by the buyer to represent him in the transaction. Fortunately his offer was not accepted and we went with another offer. She actually expected the full buyer's agent fee even though her only involvement was writing an offer...

Is this a normal business practice???