Buyer Bonuses in the News.. NAR at it again- Fraud - Deception - you Bet
Buyers Bonuses for Realtor are VERY Bad. The Realtor Get Paid enough already, and to give more incentive, this is VERY wrong. Where are the Real Estate Consumers Rights in all this? You have NONE. Below the REALTOR article on this Topic is in BLUE and my Rant on the nonsense and anti-consumer National Association of Realtor is in BLACK.
Bonus pay
Some home sellers sweetening the pay to buyer's agent -- is it worth it?
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
First of all Buyers agent commission is factor in to the SOLD data and helps to Create a False Market. Buyers Agent Bonuses SHOULD be Illegal. Buyers Agent do steer clients to properties that pay them the most. I don't care what NAR wants you to believe about the real estate consumer deciding for themselves, quite often the Real Estate Consumer does not even know that the Realtor is pulling the strings, but they are.
These days, a real-estate agent's paycheck doesn't necessarily stop at a cut of the commission.
These Day.. what is that suppose to mean, Buyers Agent bonuses have been around for a long time, they are not new, they are often times VERY large and on top of commissions and the are WRONG in every sense.
In markets with a glut of homes for sale -- and there are many of them -- sellers are in fierce competition, each hoping to lure buyers to their properties for a showing. Some of them are making appeals to the pocketbooks of agents working with the buyers. And the buyer might never know about that added bonus.
The Buyer is NEVER told about these Bonuses, and they should be, this kind of non-disclosure is deceitful and you, the Real Estate Conumer Pays. Direct "appeals" to the pockets of real estate agents will take precendent over what is best for the consumer most EVERY time.
"With the market shifting from a seller's market to much more of a buyer's market, those incentives are increasing," said Leslie Tyler, vice president of marketing for ZipRealty, a real-estate brokerage headquartered in Emeryville, Calif. "When you're selling a home, there's a number of different levers you can pull to move your house quicker. You can change the price, you can offer an incentive to an agent, you can paint the front door."
Realtor Incentives on top of outrageous commissions, not only affect the SOLD data and the market as a whole, but are unscrupulous attacks on the real estate consumer.
Mentions of cash bonuses, gift cards and other incentives are attached to some listings -- information that real-estate agents can see through professional listing services but that buyers don't have access to through printouts or Web sites. Builders are especially fond of offering extras, sometimes sending out emails to brokerages about them, said Noah Freedman, a principal with the brokerage firm Bond New York Real Estate.
Is this included in the SOLD data, is this disclosed to a buyer.. no way.
The main advantage of these incentives: They often catch the eyes of real-estate agents, attracting attention to one property in a sea of available homes, Freedman said.
Whether they have that much of an influence on the eventual sale, however, isn't as clear.
"At the end of the day, you can't make someone buy something because you're going to get an AmEx card," Freedman said.
YOU BET they influence a sale. Do not doubt that for one second. And yes, a Realtor can make someone buy. You would be shocked at the minipulating power of some Realtors. And with Extra incentive, those properties will definately move fast and first and this SHOULD be illegal and should be investigated by the Department of Justice.
Extra Ethics
Real-estate agents have a responsibility to show buyers the homes that best suit their needs, said Michael Thiel, associate counsel for the National Association of Realtors. And while the perks may be nice, "the obligation to the client is primary."
NAR members have a "responsiblity" what a joke, that's like a pinky swear in grade school. Realtors are self governed and Have No accountability. Realtors have to obey Ethics, Laws, and Standards of practice only in theory.. no one makes them. And there is NO real "obligation to the client" Michael Thiel is full of BULL on this one. Buyers are no shown, most of the time what is best for them, but instead what is best for the Realtor.
The incentive could be influential when two similar homes are available -- and one of them offers a little something extra, he said. In a case like that, an agent might show the property with the incentive first. But that could be where the advantage ends.
Wrong, the other one will not be in the running unless the buyer brings it in and then the Realtor will find a way to make the property without the bonus look bad or inferior somehow.
That's because there's also a financial incentive to finding the right fit for a home buyer, Thiel and others pointed out. If agents get greedy and only show homes that would give them a bigger payday, there's a chance that clients won't like any of them. The agent then risks losing the client altogether.
Not True, the real estate consumer are like sheeps to slaughter and they trust that the Realtor, of supposed Higher Standards will do right by them. Agents do not care about risking losing a client, many more will in place behind that one. And odds are the client won't even know what hit them.
In general, agents are not obliged to disclose whether they get bonus compensation on a particular home, Thiel said.
Why NOT Michael Thiel, is it because Realtors don't Really have to Disclose anything that may be of the Real Estate Consumers best interest.
But given the vast amount of information available to buyers via the Internet, it's easy for savvy consumers these days to know what properties are out there -- and decide whether they're being shown all of the homes that fit their needs, said Phyllis Pezenik, vice president of sales and leasing for DJK Residential, a real-estate firm in New York.
"If a buyer becomes aware of another property that is similar or better ... and the agent has not told them about it, that would tend to make them wary of that broker," she said. "If you feel through your own research that you're not being shown all the properties that meet your criteria, that definitely is a buyer's decision to move on."
Bull, the agent will just make an appointment to show them and act like they missed it and the Real Estate Consumer will NOT BE "wary" - they will believe the Realtor.
Before going separate ways, Thiel said it might be wise for buyers to first talk about the concerns with their real-estate agent. But when a client doesn't believe that their agent has his or her best interest at heart, then perhaps it is indeed time for a change in representation.
Realtor cannot ever protect the Real Estate Consumer it is a Fact.
"There are a lot of agents out there who will try and work with them," he said.
As for sellers considering the incentive tactic, try and get a gauge for what other sellers in the area are offering in terms of bonuses and commission share, Tyler said. A seller might ask brokers about perks other sellers are offering.
However, some might decide it's a better move to appeal to the buyer's pocketbook by agreeing to cover closing costs or cutting the sale price instead,
Do NOT use a Realtor, there will be more money for you, the real estate consumer, and less room for corruption if you keep the Realtor out of the deal, all together.
Crystal L. Cox montana
Real Estate Industry Whistleblower
