We just had one of our clients take us off "Preferred Status" because we stood up for ourselves. About a month ago we noticed the listing agreements started coming in with the listing commission at 1.75%. At first we thought it was a mistake but then it happened again for 1,5%. We put in a call to see what was going on and they simply told us that it was an executive decision that if we wanted to be taken off their preferred list to just let them know. Also, they said it would just be on Chase properties but then it started happening on all listings. We weren't just a broker that had one or two listings with them but around 50 and we produced great results for them. Our CFK is unrivaled in our area at over 95% success and our team speaks 4 languages.It just goes to show what they really think about agents and how much they value us. The last communication we got from them stated everything was ok and they looked forward to doing business with us. Fast forward a week or so and one of their clients calls us and ask us if we still want their listings because that company isn't going to be giving us anymore. At least they value us enough to give us the heads up. Luckily they made it mandatory that they use us for their listings.The point is that we were so replacable, in their minds, because they know other agents will take the listings for any commission. This was a long time coming and my main concern is that this will become a trend but it can only happen if we let it. They will find out the hard way, as well as the agents that take on these listings, that you truly get what you pay for and REO's are anything but free listings. I hope to work this out with them and get our preferred status back but I really have a feeling that this is a sign of things to come. So any AM's out there that need a good team in NJ please contact me. And agents, STOP SELLING YOURSELVES SHORT. Your time and expertise is worth something. They can only do this to us if we let them,
Something is a whole lot better than nothing and that's why i'm going to try and get our status back. It just makes it more of a priority to get both sides of the deal. It was mainly the way they handled the situation. We don't have just one or two listings with them, we have more than 40 and we always do free stuff for them like 2nd opinion bpo's and such. That's why I was surprised that their first reaction was basically if you don't like it you can hit the road.
As long as you have agents trying anything possible to get into this side of our industry, this will continue to be a problem. When people are trying to feed their families, they will work for anything. This is and will be the nature of the market we are in right now. And yes, some of these people will do an excellent job and may do better then many of us who take this business for granted.
I have always been a believer in "A little bit of something is a whole lot better then all of nothing!". With that said, I do not reduce my commissions, period! I compete with agents all the time with lower commissions, but once I show the difference in what we offer, I usually win 8 out of 10 times. As an industry, we do a really poor job of proving our value! We all must work on our image and showing our value!
I'm not standing up for anybody. I'm asking agents to stand up for themselves so this doesn't become the industry norm. If other companies start to see this working they'll definitely jump on board.
We might as well work for free! Same thing with BPOs; they use to pay $200-$300 and now the norm is $50 and some banks want us to do them for free...just dangling that carrot in front of us. They treat the buyers like that too, "hey, don't want the house on our terms? ....Next!" They have a line waiting.
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I have always been a believer in "A little bit of something is a whole lot better then all of nothing!". With that said, I do not reduce my commissions, period! I compete with agents all the time with lower commissions, but once I show the difference in what we offer, I usually win 8 out of 10 times. As an industry, we do a really poor job of proving our value! We all must work on our image and showing our value!
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