Negotiate Commission Says CR - Tomson Burnham LLC

Commissions are negotiable is a mantra of the real estate world. The reason for this is to dispel the myth that there is a standard “6%” commission. That would be price fixing. Not good…

So recently Consumer Reports did a study about negotiating real estate commissions. What did they find?

Drum roll…you can negotiate commissions.

Of the 46% of sellers that tried to negotiate a commission with their real estate agent 71% were successful in getting a reduction in the fee. In fact they found that those that paid a higher commission had more regrets about the service they received.

Why?

Because agents just aren’t worth that much. Can you believe that as an agent I am saying that? Here is what I can tell you. Agents are grossly overpaid on easy deals and underpaid on hard deals…You know the ones that never seem to go away…

They average out. What I can also tell you is that good agents can make hard transactions easier and bad agents can make easy transactions hard. People have been so ingrained to believe that there is some magic in selling a home. Hard work, yes, but some good marketing is better than a lot of crappy marketing. Some 6% agents give you a lot of crappy marketing. Don’t be suckered into the 6% for crappy marketing ploy…

Who is most likely to drop their rates? Apparently Re/MAX agents don’t feel the need to defend their rates. Independents, like moi, were the next group to give up. Ahhh my own group caving so easily…

Now before you think you can call me and ask me to negotiate my rate, remember that I charge a flat rate to begin with that is based on what it actually costs me to do business. What a concept?

So anyway…if you are feeling argumentative and you need to sell your home here in the Salem Oregon area, according to Consumer Reports, you should start haggling. If that isn’t your thing just call me for a haggle free experience.