To discount or not to discount

One Realtor offers to list your house (that’s “market your house in an attempt to get it sold” in the real world) for 6% commission; the next person you interview will do it for 5%. No brainer decision, right?

Give it some careful thought.

As I explained in some excruciating detail in a former post, the listing agent collects all of the commission for both the Buyer’s and Seller’s sides of a transaction. In Albuquerque right now, you offer 3% to the Buyer’s representative or you can pretty much forget about your house ever being shown. That means the agent willing to take 5% will collect 2% for herself and give 3% away. That same agent didn’t HAVE to take 5%. In fact, she may have other listings at 5.5%, 6%, 7%, etc.

On a typical morning, after getting the kids off to school, going to the gym, showering, starting a load of laundry, taking something out to defrost for dinner, eating some bon bon’s she finds in the freezer next to the peas (ah, the leisurely life of the Realtor), she gets going on some "real" work.

Looking at her listing inventory, she (perhaps subconsciously) sees her work in this way:

House 1 (YOUR house) – 5% commission, 2% to her
House 2 – 5% commission, 2% to her
House 3 – 6% commission, 3% to her
House 4 – 6% commission, 3% to her
House 5 – 7% commission, 4% to her

As Homeowner #1, where do you think you rank in your Realtor’s list of priorities for the day?