The local recruiting effort by Compass has been very effective, and it’s really starting to show up in the numbers. With 1,200+ productive agents in San Diego County now (I was #160 in July 2018), we are taking away market share and becoming the dominant brokerage – especially in the coastal markets.
How will it all play out?
There could be a tectonic shift in the business if this lawsuit prevails. The result will be that the commission rate paid by the seller to the buyer-agents will be revealed publicly (can’t find them now), and it could end up that buyers will have to pay their buyer-agent’s fee, instead of the seller:
This training video from a realtor seminar is expected to be a key piece of evidence:
If buyers have to pay their agent’s commission, hopefully they will take more interest in their qualifications, and ability to give good help! We’ll see which brokerages can survive then.
That’s probably the most cringe worthy thing I’ve watched all year and I watched the 1st presidential debate.
Two things that won’t be considered in this lawsuit:
1. All the other judgements that buyer-agents make besides a low commission when deciding not to show a listing. If they don’t like the price, area, schools, listing agent, listing office, photos, paint color, etc. they will crumple up the listing and throw it in the trash. We should be thankful that listings are publicly available to check this practice.
2. Sellers should have the right to offer a bounty to the buyer-agents.
Who the hell would want to use a buyers agent if this goes through? If anything this will accelerate the trend to just cut out the middle-man altogether and buy through a Zillow or Redfin.
The additional vig is 1% vs. Zillow/Redfin.
if traditional agents can make a powerful case why we are worth the extra 1%, then some of us have a shot at sticking around. But we’re up against superior websites and $100 million in advertising per year.
Z/R is selling inferior services by far, but will anyone know or care?
Many agents are not experienced and don’t do a job that makes the general public feel like they are getting good help let alone getting their money’s worth. This problem which has gone on for years and has broken the public’s trust in agents. This is why people are vulnerable to getting drawn in by big tech companies offering alternatives to agents. Hopefully the good agents can communicate their value in a clear and concise way because that it people actually do need good advice.
Exactly. Most realtors don’t even try to establish their value.
All they have to do is a blog.