I promised Sellsius I’d write my own Conusmer Bill of Rights before mid August.

Yours is as bad as Redfins I’m not going to pick yours apart as I did not pick theirs apart. Anytime someone says “You have the RIGHT to get what WE give”…it’s a commercial, not a Bill of Rights.

1) I reduce it to ZERO for my listings, if the buyer approaches me directly and they are capable and wanting to represent themselves.

2) the listing agent represents the seller. The seller wants agents to bring buyers to see his house. Offering $1.00 in the mls does not represent the seller’s best interest or accomplish the seller’s objective and purpose for making “an mls offering”. So when I am representing the seller, I cannot do something that does not represent the seller’s best interests and it ain’t my dollar to make “a stand with” for the betterment of the industry. When I am listing a house…it’s all about the seller’sbest interest. PERIOD.

3) When I am representing the buyer, I take that mls offering and either negotiate it up front, or treat it like a retainer with a “settle up” at the end. Sometimes based on price range and the amount of work involved, that amount is equal to my fee. I’d say about 20% of the time. Sometimes I know it is too much from the get go and reduce it up front, as Redfin does. Sometimes it is in between. But it is something that the buyer and I need to agree on when the day is done.

Every buyer’s agent needs to understand that the fee is “set aside” by the seller, but negotiated with the buyer client…cause the seller ain’t his client.

What do you do when the seller is offering a big fat Buyer Agent fee of 1% or 2% more than the norm? You look for the monster. You look for WHY the seller is feeling the need to inflate that fee in order to sell his house, and use that to the advantage of your buyer client. NOT by giving the buyer the difference, but by asking why the seller needs to resort to that tactic to sell his house in the first place. Overpriced? Worst lot in the development? Bad development? Look for the why.

“You think not offering a selling agent commission is antiquated? Can you please show me when that has been practiced in Washington? I would say that is progressive thinking not antiquated.

Why are you opposed to it? Because its easier to tell your client you are giving them a discount vs asking them to pay you for your services. ”

I think this is a progressive stance. I think if Ardell or any other agent wanted to change the system from within, they would reduce the Buyers Agent compensation to 1$ for their listings and let the buyers choose how to pay their own agent.

Ardell says that we negotiate with sellers daily about commissions and we should do the same with buyers. This would force the issue.

I won’t lead the charge though. Why? Because buyers don’t want to pay their agent. PERIOD. If it APPEARS as though the seller is paying both agents that is good enough for them.

It’s like paying taxes. Most people like getting a BIG REFUND. Are you kidding me? You just gave the government an interest free loan for much of the year! But to the uneducated it feels like FREE MONEY.

Ardell- You talk about revolutionizing the industry. I think you need to do it from both sides of the aisle. All this talk of “refunds” to the buyer (I know this is a significant amount of money and I’m not scoffing at the consumer benefits.) seems weak in terms of changing the system if you are not willing to change the way you work as a listing agent.

Kelly said:I also took the time to cross reference the 7 listings you have had since last May to ALL Redfin offers made since last May and I did not find a match?

Greg, I do think Kelly deserves a response on this one. Highlighting the issue for easy reference.

Kelly does a fabulous job. I can personally vouch for her from personal experience.

In the past couple months I have worked on Real Estate transactions with 4 different agents from your office. I am more than happy to email you their names as I am confident they will all tell you that they had a very pleasurable, smooth and professional experience with Redfin. They will tell you that I did indeed work at all hours of the day, I communicated with them frequently and I had all forms, notices and addendums sent around to all parties in the most timely manner. In fact, one of the agents in your office had 5 offers on her listing and my clients were the successful buyers and went on to a smooth closing.

I also took the time to cross reference the 7 listings you have had since last May to ALL Redfin offers made since last May and I did not find a match? Thus, making me confused about the supposed offer that was made on your listing?

I don’t typically take time to blog but I do take my career very seriously and I have immense pride in my work. If a ‘Captain of Industry’ agent is going to state “fact is” followed by a spew of incorrect statements (slander?) then I feel it necessary to defend my company.

Please feel free to email me if I am incorrect about any of the above comments. Let’s get the ‘facts’ straight.

Some aspiring new agent in AZ oughtta get their hands on this one, real fast. The mls offering goes to whomever the buyer chooses. You are not providing the best service to your seller by pretending otherwise. That mls offering should go out the door, one way or the other. Raise the integrity of the industry by letting the buyer choose how that happens.

The days of sellers and seller’s agents reaping the monetary benefits of an “unrepresented buyer” are over, finito, history.

Rather than arguing in circles, divorce the commissions and there will no longer be a need for debate. A lot of buyers will end up going it alone, but there will no longer be a need for the debate.

We are in this business together – discussion is great as it stirs ideas that inspire to set forth change. Please do, I would like that very much. Thank you for the post!