If you have just sold your home, you probably handed over in excess of $40,000 to a real estate agent. Ouch. People complain, yet do it every day, almost without thinking. Why are they so high and how do agents get away with it?
Its not real money
Traditional real estate agents can charge these eyebrow-raising figures because the amount doesnt seem real to the homeowner who is paying the bill.
The real estate agents commission usually comes out of the deposit before its sent by the agent to the sellers solicitor, which means the seller doesnt pay the bill directly, it’s bundled up into an overall settlement statement from their lawyer. What happens is called the Framing Effect . Because the price is bundled into other things sellers are far less sensitive to it. If the homeowner had to physically write the Real Estate Agent a cheque or count out five figures worth of hundred-dollar bills, it would be a different story! All of a sudden it becomes real money.
Its tied to the house price
Traditional real estate agent commissions are based on a percentage of the homes sale value, which means the dollar amount paid has increased over the years in line with house prices. If house prices go up the agent gets paid more – completely independent of the effort, value, or service they provide.
Over the last 10 years house prices have increased by over 100%, while general prices have increased 35% (CPI and QV Housing Index – March 2001 to September 2012). The base used to calculate your real estate commission has increased nearly four times the rate of increase in costs. This of course ignores all the benefits and efficiencies that agents have gained over that time too, for example, real estate websites such as Trademe, smart phones, ease of contact, wireless etc.
Quite simply there is no correlation between the service and value a real estate agent adds and the total value of the house. In fact, it can actually drive the wrong behaviour by being structured that way. Think about it – if house prices in your area increase 15% this year, the commission base increases the same amount without any changes from the agent.
You gotta feed the middlemen
The commission you pay goes to a number of middlemen who all take their cut of the fee.
A traditional real estate agent operates as their own business within a local real estate office, which is often just one branch of a national brand. When a house sells, there are a number of people who all need to get their piece of your commission payment: the listing salesperson, the selling salesperson, the sales manager, the branch manager, the office owner, and the franchise owner.
The roller coaster of commission-only income
A real estate agent works on a contingency basis. If the property doesnt sell, the agent doesnt get paid, which means theyre taking a risk. So you pay more than you would if you were paying for the service (like your lawyer charges, or Optimo marketing). Not all homes the agent lists will sell, so the income earned on a successful sale also needs to cover the time, money, and energy spent on any unsuccessful sales. It seems a little unfair that a motivate homeowner should have to pay for the unmotivated one who is testing the market.
Its a numbers game
From the traditional real estate agents perspective, their most important daily, weekly, monthly task has nothing to do with selling your home. The most important task of the agent is to chase more listings for their books – that is, they need to find more homes to sell. This is known as prospecting and its a time-consuming business.Think of it as being like a shop: if the shelves are empty, the shopkeeper earns no money. Its the same for the agent. If they do not have listings, they do not earn an income.The money they make from the sale of your property needs to cover the cost of all their prospecting, whether its successful or not. How is that fair to a motivated home-seller?
So there you have it:
The commission charges are framed (structured) in a way that makes them seem to not be real money
The fees are tied to house prices which have increased dramatically
There is more than one person lined up to be paid when you sell – the commission needs to cover all the middlemen involved
Its contingent, which will be higher than paying a certain fee
The fee has to cover all the work to get the listing in the first place too.
an extract from
Grant Wakelin 200 Square
