That's what one site is proposing.
I got an e-mail today notifying me that I was losing my bid for someone's purchase. Usually I am not duped into clicking but it looked pretty legit. So what did I do, I clicked.
To my dismay, there was this site where Realtors out"BID" or out cut each other to "win" this client. The auction I watched today had an agent giving up 70% of the commission back to buyer.
I'm not sure how this is even legal, but it'll be interesting to see. For those curious, the site was home commission dot com.
The process is simple a Seller or Buyer signs up and puts in what they are looking for in general and then agents compete (blatant use of the lending tree slogan) by bidding how much they will pay the buyer to use them. Whoever, cuts their pay the most, wins.
I've seen other sites like this one, Hungry Agents come to mind. There the seller or buyer could at least view the other bidders and offerings. Here it's more like ebay.
One of the biggest problems I have with this is how they have the model all wrong. Just look at the diagram to the left. It doesn't even make sense. Most skilled Realtors can get the seller to pay for some or all of the commissions.
This site is free now but I could easily see them switching to a Homegain model of monthly fees for Realtors and possibly even a fee for sellers or buyers. Only time will tell, I for one, hope it does nothing. I'm not fond of most discounters, but this is scraping the bottom of the barrell here.
Interesting. There is no bottom to the bottom.
Unless I'm mistaken, Homegain get abot 35% of the agent's commission at closing.
Homegain does, but in the beginning it (Homegain) was much lower.
Lisa - A lot of agents do this, either strategically or "unknowingly" - i.e. Signed up through another company and told it was good.
Kelly - I'm with you!
Ian - I went to the site, it was like looking at porn. My sentiments exactly.
Joshua,
Seems to me like this is just one of many sites like this on-line. No doubt there will be more in the future.
The premise assumes we are all the same, some may be, yet not all. You can be an order taker or a negotiator depending on your knowledge and skill of the r.e. market. This can also be true for many other professions. For me it's different. I select those people I do business with by who I know, like and trust, bottom line!
If someone chooses to make the biggest financial decision in a lifetime to the lowest bidder...guess they get what they deserve. As for agents considering this option, please don't bother! Consider another occupation.