4 Responses to “The Modern offers 2% commission to agents of buyers at auction” »»

1. Anonymous
   Comment by Anonymous | 05/05/08 at 1:21 pm

   Hi John,
   Thanks for maintaining such a great blog. I have a question about buyer’s brokers. I have been reading a bit online about boston condo domain. They offer a flat rate buyer’s broker service where they charge $5k and rebate the remaining commission to the buyer. It seems to make sense that way they are truly fighting for you to get the lowest price. I was wondering what you think of this concept and if you could do a blog entry about it.
   Thank you!

2. John A Keith
   Comment by John A Keith | 05/05/08 at 5:30 pm

   Hi.

   That topic is worthy of its own post, but I may not get around to it for awhile. I would say though, the dollar amount paid in commissions should not be seen as indicative of who can get you the lowest, best price for a property. It’s been my experience that discount brokerage companies are not providing the best service. If you believe that you don’t need the assistance of an experienced agent in order to help you through the buying process, then perhaps a discount brokerage would be okay. After spending the weekend with two clients, though, I know that they would be ill-served by going with a firm like Redfin which charges you by the hour or a firm such as condoDomain which does not have experienced agents on staff.

3. John
   Comment by John | 05/05/08 at 7:43 pm

   That’s a good question. I too have been thinking of using a flat rate buyer service. John, you mention that they do not have experienced agents on their staff. Their website says something like over 20 years experience between the four of them. At what point does an agent become experienced, 5 sales? 20 sales? Also when looking for a buyer’s agent does the accredited buyers rep designation matter?

4. John A Keith
   Comment by John A Keith | 05/05/08 at 10:10 pm

   Hello. You would have to ask someone from their team to explain the “20-years experience” claim.

   Having said that, experience-level of a licensed real estate agent is not necessarily a requirement, of course, or indicative of whether or not an agent is “good”.

   Knowledge of the market is as important, possibly. When I started out, in 2001-2002, I knew Boston from having lived here for over 15 years, and from being born and raised in Massachusetts. What I couldn’t provide in sales experience I made up by knowing all about every single neighborhood in Boston (mostly, from having lived in every one of them …).

   Of course, every agent was new at some point. The obvious question is, do you want to be the buyer or seller who uses a novice? In most cases, you may not notice the difference. Plus, if a new agent works for a large firm, he/she may have a mentor to help him/her through the first couple of deals.

   The discount or fixed-commission companies may or may not succeed, but what I have found is that they are not putting enough emphasis on the role of the real estate agent.

   Keller Williams and Wm Raveis both entered the Boston market during the past couple of years. They have succeeded not necessarily because they were large corporations with capital behind them, but because they hired agents with knowledge and experience. Keller Williams, specifically, hired two of the most successful agents in the South End - DIane Davidson and Stephen Cohen as their brokers of record.

   Oh, and about designations such as “ABR”? I think they’re a waste of time for an agent, and I think buyers and sellers of real estate should disregard when considering who to use as an agent.

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