By TAMARA PATZER
Traditional real estate brokers are beginning to see what Help-U-Sell® brokers have known since 1976, selling consumers prefer set fee real estate services and a menu of services.
Trend toward fee-based services
In an online survey by Inman Publishing taken by 505 respondents between Feb. 5 and March 5, 2010, “more than half of respondents (57.8 percent) believe that real estate services will increasingly be fee-based in the next 10 years, moving away from the traditional commission structure,” which typically runs between 6 and 7 percent of the sales price of a home.
“Fees will increasingly be based on the consumer’s selection of services by the year 2010,” said
40.4 percent of respondents. Another 17.4 percent said “that brokers will increasingly charge a flat fee for real estate services.”
Buyer’s agent compensation trends
In the Inman survey, 44.6 percent of respondents said they thought the structure of buyer’s agent compensation will be unchanged for the next 10 years, and “that buyer’s agents will continue to be paid through the cooperative commission amount offered by the listing brokerage.”
Buyers negotiating the compensation for buyer’s agent services are a trend projected by 22.8 percent of respondents, while 16.4 percent thought that in the next 10 years “buyer’s agents will be compensated for the specific duties performed and/or hours worked.”
Help-U-Sell® Beliefs
“For more than 35 years, Help-U-Sell® has believed that the traditional 6 percent commission is an outdated practice and has no correlation to the cost of performing a real estate transaction,” said John Powell, Help-U-Sell® Chief Operating Officer.
“Our goal is to provide a fair price for the cost of services rendered, much like any other professional service that consumers pay for. Since the cost of doing business varies throughout the country, the set-fee offered for our services also varies, depending on the market. What doesn’t change is the scope of services we provide. We perform all the same services as traditional real estate companies, and, often times, more.”
For more information about Help-U-Sell® Real Estate services visit http://helpusell.com.