The first week after the realtor-lawsuit verdict went as expected - chaos, doom, and no sexy alternatives. It will take years to appeal, but it won't matter how it turns out. Buyers are going to be paying their agents. If sellers aren't obligated to pay any commission...
Realtor Post-Frenzy Playbook
Are Realtor Commissions Negotiable?
Are realtor commissions negotiable? Sure....how high do you want to go? 😆 Commissions aren't all the same, just like agents aren't all the same. Different agents charge different rates because they do different things for the consumer. Commissions/fees range from...
NAR Lawsuit – The Aftermath, Part 2
Now what? The National Association of Realtors clearly underestimated the chances of losing this case - and the others to come. They must have thought that touting their 100-year old Code of Ethics was all that was needed to impress people, and instead they found out...
NAR Lawsuit – The Aftermath, Part 1
A federal jury today agreed with the plaintiffs that organizations such as Keller Williams, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices of America, and the National Association of Realtors had violated the law by conspiring to inflate commission rates. Their attorney then filed...
Referral Fees
Paying referral fees is a standard practice in the realtor business. Are you thinking of moving to a new town and need an introduction to a realtor there? Your agent here will track one down for you, and that agent will pay them a referral fee, which used to be 20%...
0% Commissions
Currently, every listing agent is required to offer some sort of buyer-agent compensation on the MLS. Zillow and Redfin publish those commission amounts on every listing now, so they are all out in the open. Today, there are 79 homes for sale between La Jolla and...
Buyer-Agent’s Commission and Steering
I have mentioned repeatedly that the buyer-agent is a dead man walking. All forces within the industry are combining to push the buyer-agent out of the equation, and home buyers will be worse off because they will only have faux representation when buying directly...
San Diego Case-Shiller Index, July
The local index is about where it was last month AND last year at this time. It is 3% below the peak of last May, and +9.6% year-to-date. It wouldn't surprise me if it slides downward ~3% the rest of 2023, then up ~3% in the first half of 2024, then down ~3% in the...
‘Reviewing Offers As Received’
It is common to see the same words or phrases in the MLS descriptions. A few years ago, the fancy new buzz word was 'boasts'; a word realtors would use to describe the home's best features. The word got overused, and eventually we would read that a home "boasts three...
Saturday Open-House Report
We were flooded with buyers today! A constant flow of 3-6 groups at a time all to see our hot new PQ listing off the 56 and only one exit down from CCHS. Talk about a convenient location - within five minutes you can get to top-rated K-12 schools, shopping, grocery,...