Home buyers deserve to have their own representation.
The broker cooperation system which allows every agent to share their inventory with all other buyers via the MLS has worked well for 100+ years. But it has been under attack for years, and it may not survive the tight-inventory era where sellers and listing agents want to minimize or eliminate buyer-agents altogether.
An agent sent this in today:
Do you know that Lennar is no longer paying agents a commission or referral fee?
I have been working with a client for almost a year. She wouldn’t have known about the Lennar at Treviso community without me bringing her there. I registered her as my client and when her name got called on the list, they told her they’re no longer cooperating with agents and if she tried to include me she’d lose the house. Thank you Lennar for putting my client is a horrible position. Hey builders. Don’t ostracize the brokerage community! The market may be busy now but when the tides turn, you’re going to need us again. This is bad business.
I know for a fact that Lennar isn’t paying commissions on any of their SD communities currently.
I agree that it’s bad business to have an agent sign in their buyer as required to receive the commission, but then rescind their offer of compensation when the buyer steps up to purchase. But nobody cares about buyer-agents, and the abuse will continue. Lower or no commission being offered, no clarity on how multiple offers get handled (other than the usual “I just let the sellers decide”, which is a lie), and no easy path to show and sell.
What is the result of buyer-agents being snuffed out?
Here you go:
Buyers don’t recognize the need for getting good help.
An apprentice from a realtor team will suck them in with the promise of getting them an ‘off-market deal’, but then get sold a 1,200sf two-story house in a gang-infested area for 10% to 20% over value (true story).
We should probably just drop the seller-paid commissions – though they should have the right to offer a bounty – and have buyers pay their own agents. Those who value good help will seek out the best agents, and those who don’t will get what they get and wind up with regrets.
Does the state of California have consumer protection laws like Chapter 93A in Massachusetts where one party — consumer or business — can file a claim against another for unfair and deceptive marketing practices?
You may recognize similar stories of “buyer agents being crushed” if you visit @RealEstateCafe’s tweets with the hashtag #Chapter93A:
http://bit.ly/Chapter93A_LIVtwts
Here in Florida some of their communities only pay 1% to realtors. Lennar sucks as a builder and are very greedy. They treat realtors poorly and will try to make everything in their power to have buyers not represented by a realtor so they dont have to pay comission. If you manage to be the realtor of a buyer they will pay you 1% and sometimes nothing.
Now they are coming up with .75%
Goodbye Lennar ????????
Try a 1% commission on the “lower” base price (sometimes $100,000+ under contract price); a blind bidding system where you submit a bid online, have no idea what the other offers are or how many there are, and cross your fingers. It makes realtors look incompetent or unnecessary to their buyers. All finishes are chosen before the bidding process, so your buyers have zero say on their upgrades/
finishes.
I have been working with my buyer for months, buyer choose Lennar, had no choice. 0.75% commission they paid. Heartless people.
I guess that means that I’ll be showing Lennar homes all day long to my rudest/meanest clients with bad credit.
Not recommend agent suggest Lennar house to buyers. They only pay 1% BAC through out Oregon & Washington. It’s not worth after all that hard work & paid advertised capture lead. Lennar Northwest LLC you’re so cheap…
They were paying 0% here. They may pay more now but f-em.
I work in the SF bay area and Lennar pays nothing to buyer’s agents because they are a bunch of greedy @#%&**.
This is what happens when corporatism gets its slimy tentacles into Real Estate.
Unless we do something this is the future of Real Estate in America.
This is the future of real estate all right, where even the people within the industry are trying to beat the agents out of their commission.
Lennar was paying nothing here during the frenzy. Then when their sales seized up in the off-season, they started paying $15,000, which is about 1% – and even more insulting than zero.
The buyer-agent is the one that has to show the buyers all the other choices, and if they are good, give them the education about the market. Only to have the clerk at the model home sign them up.
I know, I know, I should be grateful to have a job.
But I don’t mind if they don’t pay us – let’s see if they can do it without us. Game on!
there should be a class actionsuit against lennar and someone will do it. they hold the buyers hostigage and the buyer agent without compensatiion
My daughter and her husband recently went to a Lennar new home build and she said she had a family member who would be representing them and the agent at Lennar said that they don’t allow family members who are realtors to represent them?? What? Don’t you think that is discrimination?
It is in my book!