National Association of Realtors – Help-U-Sell® Connect

The NAR Settlement and You

As you are aware, there has been a flurry of commission related lawsuits over the last couple of years. The resulting settlement proposal now in place will mean big changes in the way we negotiate commissions and how we disseminate that information.

The following is a summary of the specific changes that will go into effect on August 17. As much of the onus for practical implementation and enforcement of the new requirements falls on Multiple Listing Services, we recommend that you pay particular attention to any communication from your Board or MLS about how to function in this new business environment.

Specific changes include:

Eliminate and prohibit any requirement of offers of compensation in the MLS between listing brokers or sellers to buyer brokers or other buyer representatives. Essentially, the buyer agent compensation fields will disappear from MLS input forms and data. The prohibition also applies to any ‘workaround’ for non-MLS property databases, including Internet aggregators like Zillow. To discover if compensation is being offered by the listing broker or seller to buyer brokers, a call will have to be made.
Reinforce that MLS participants must not filter or restrict MLS listings presented to clients by level of compensation.
Require compensation disclosures to sellers, prospective sellers, and buyers.
Require MLS participants working with a buyer to enter into a written agreement with the buyer prior to touring a home. This requirement is particularly challenging because a written agreement must be in place before showing the first home to a buyer. Again, seek clarification and implementation strategies from your Board or MLS, but it would seem that some kind of one-time-showing agreement would have to be executed for each home until a full buyer consultation and buyer broker agreement is signed.

It is possible, after an adjustment period, the changes will mean that sellers will compensate their listing agents and buyers will compensate their own agents. It will mean that we will have to earn the right to represent buyers by making a clear case for the value we bring to a transaction(the Buyer Consultation), and the reasonableness of our compensation proposal.

Bear in mind the agreement does not prohibit a seller from offering compensation to a buyer’s agent. It just prohibits the publication or advertisement of that information. However, we are already seeing savvy sellers balking at the high commissions that have been offered to buyers’ agents in the past. Fortunately, Help-U-Sell brokers have been operating for almost 50 years on a reasonable set fee basis, so the changes will probably be less painful for us than some of our competitors.

To learn more, come to Power Hour tomorrow, June 12 at 9am Pacific Time, Noon Eastern. Open the Zoom App OR go to www.zoom.us, click ‘Join a Meeting’ and enter Meeting ID: 963 5169 9809 Passcode: HUS123

Help-U- Sell® Westside Realty Shatters Spring Sales With $10.5M Home Sale

Los Angeles, CA (May 15, 2017) – It’s always brisk business at the Help-U-Sell Westside Realty but recently things have taken a decidedly sharp turn upwards at the busy Los Angeles office, where just a few days ago franchise owner/broker Henry Ho reported the successful sale of a $10.5M home in Bel Air.

“Because of the flat-fee system we use here at Help-U-Sell, we were able to save the seller well over $350,000 over the traditional commission based model, which is truly monumental savings,” said Henry Ho, who established the franchise office in 2007.

“Detractors have implied from the beginning 40 years ago that we’re just a discount broker. We are in different times where people don’t want to throw money away on outsized commissions – it’s just unnecessary. This successful sale of this home proves that our model excels just as well in the luxury home market as it does the residential,” said Robert Stevens, Chief Operating Officer.

The custom-built home boasts a gorgeous, one-of-a kind pool, housed in a cathedral styled glass-dome. In addition to two complete bedroom suites and a primary master bedroom suite, there is a temperature controlled wine cellar and breathtaking views of Moraga Vineyards and The Getty.

Instead of the traditional percentage-based commission, Help-U-Sell Real Estate charges its sellers a set fee and a menu of services, allowing clients to participate in the selling process to save as much money as they would like. Help-U-Sell brokers are fully licensed members of the National Association of REALTORS and can offer sellers and buyers a full-service experience.

About Help-U-Sell Real Estate

Created 40 years ago, the Help-U-Sell Real Estate model was the pioneer for providing an alternative to the dated commission structure, something that had gone uncontested for years in a market overrun by a monopoly of traditional brokerage firms. Help-U-Sell Real Estate forged a revolution in the real estate industry by proactively challenging the commission structure, and has continued to perfect its full-service, set-fee model today.

Attracting Younger Buyers and Sellers

The National Association of REALTORS released the first ever Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends report last week. The 104-page document compares the habits, practices, beliefs and goals of the Silent Generation, people born between 1925 and 1945, and all subsequent generations through the Millennials, who were born between 1980 and 2000.

The National Association of Realtors Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends report — A new report from the National Association of Realtors report outlines the differences among younger and older home buyers and sellers.

Based on some of the data regarding the younger generations, Help-U-Sell Real Estate is perfectly poised to assist them in their real estate transactions.

Younger buyers are more likely to want help understanding the process because they’re most often inexperienced in purchasing a home. Help-U-Sell offices often have agents dedicated to working with buyers, and our specialized Jack Bailey Buyer Consultant Training program is nearing completion.

The majority of Millennials who sold their homes used a full-service brokerage, but they were more likely than other generations to opt for limited service, presumably due to less equity in their properties. With a business model that offers full service (or less, if desired) for a low fee, Help-U-Sell is a perfect fit for the newest generation of homeowners.

Why are the younger buyers and sellers a desirable demographic? According to the report’s findings, they are the most optimistic, and younger sellers are the most likely to use the same broker or agent for their next purchase.

What can you do to attract Millennials?

* Make sure you’re easy to find online.

* Consider creating a Facebook ad that targets that age group who live in your area. You can further home in on potential buyers and sellers by selecting people who are newlyweds or just had a child, factors that could precipitate a move.

* Avoid the hard sell. Instead, offer information in a conversational tone.

* For buyers, write a blog series or create a drip email campaign geared toward educating first-time buyers.

* For sellers, let them know about your low set fee and how they can save the most money. These tips can include staging on a budget and how to market their property to friends, co-workers and neighbors, along with the different ways your office works with sellers.

What tips do you have for working with younger buyers and sellers?

Help-U-Sell Success Summit 2012

We’re just back from the 2012 Help-U-Sell Success Summit, and the REALTORS Conference & Expo leading up to it. By all accounts, both were a great success! We loved seeing our brokers from all over the country. Several of them (Kim and Mike Zelena, Leigh Anne Losh, Kyna Baehr, and Walt Hippauf) drove hundreds of miles to be with us in Orlando.

Thank you to everyone who spent time at our expo booth. Your testimonials to prospective franchisees are more powerful than just about anything we can say to them or show them. A special thank-you to Dan Desmond, who made the trek from storm-damaged New Jersey to help out at the Expo and to attend the Summit.

We hope all who attended the Success Summit got some great takeaways. The hands-on approach and interactive discussions about OMS and website requests and your fee structures taught us, too. We also talked about partnering with a wonderful charity that gives food to the hungry and about adding a potential vendor to our program. As we get closer to finalizing those partnerships, we will keep you informed.

Those of you who couldn’t make it this year, please mark your calendars and start saving now for the 2013 events in San Francisco. The NAR dates are Nov. 8-11, and we will have our Success Summit immediately following. We’ll provide more information in the months to come.

Meanwhile, enjoy a few photos from the Expo and the Success Summit.

Help-U-Sell Real Estate's booth at the Realtors Expo — Help-U-Sell Real Estate's booth at the Realtors Conference & Expo in Orlando

Chris, Dee and Kendra working the Help-U-Sell booth at NAR — Chris, Dee and Kendra working the Help-U-Sell Real Estate booth at the Realtors Conference & Expo

Tracy Jacobs of Help-U-Sell Quad Cities Realty takes notes during the Success Summit.

Ron McCoy teaching about Instagram during the Help-U-Sell Success Summit

See You in November!

We’re finalizing plans for next month’s Success Summit, which will take place Nov. 12-13 in Orlando. This year, the focus will be on Help-U-Sell® Core Marketing and will feature special guest Pete Codella, who will teach us how to build and maintain a profitable online presence. We’ll also unveil new technology and have fun mingling with and learning from each other. Some of our top producers will be sharing their secrets to success, as well.

Read more about the Success Summit and register at http://seminars.helpusell.com.

If you can, come early for REALTORS Conference & Expo. We’ll be in the expo hall again this year.

Check out this rendering of our booth! It’s similar to last year’s but with a more contemporary light gray color and red carpet to match the new marketing materials.

Help-U-Sell Real Estate Booth Rendering — Our booth for this year's REALTORS Conference & Expo

We would love for you to help out at the booth (#619) or just stop by to say “hi.” Expo-only passes for NAR members are just $25, and the Clarion Inn & Suites will honor our $92/night room rate before and after the Summit. Our block of rooms is almost sold out, so call the hotel (800-826-4847) and make your reservations as soon as possible.