Hamilton Real Estate Brokerage - REALTOR® . Selling Hamilton and surrounding area Homes for Low Commission Rates . MLS Service. Fantastic commission rates since 1995.
Hamilton, Ontario · http://www.coronarealty.ca
www.coronarealty.ca Looking for a Low Commission when Selling Your Home on MLS with
a REALTOR in Hamilton Ontario / Ancaster Ontario?? We'll Sell Your Home for a Great Commission Rate on MLS. Our brokerage has been providing our clients alternative commission rates and outstanding REALTOR service since 1995.
Anyone can SAY they'll sell your home for a good commission rate. Andrew Ielasi, Broker of Record of Corona Realty Inc., Brokerage has been providing his clients with great commission rates, outstanding REALTOR service and proven Results since 1995. If you're thinking of selling you'll need a REALTOR who'll provide FULL Service and MLS exposure at a reasonable commission rate.
Smart Consumers know that it's not what you PAY, it's what you GET! And with Andrew, you GET Proven Results.
So, make the SMART Choice!
Buying or Selling Call Andrew Ielasi, Broker of Record, Corona Realty Inc., Brokerage, today at (905) 525-3311 or visit www.coronarealty.ca for details.
Real Estate: Low Commission Rate - One Percent Commission Rate? How Much Should You Pay? |Hamilton Ontario| MLS REALTOR|
It's Negotiable?
A lot of homeowners don't realize that commissions are negotiable, and hashing out a mutually agreeable rate should be part of the process of choosing who to give the listing to. Commission rates may vary from brokerage to brokerage. Many home sellers are not used to having to negotiate when they are buying services or products. Therefore, if they are negotiating for a commission rate with a REALTOR who negotiates every day for a living, it’s not hard to see which party will normally win these negotiations. These financial negotiations are often not something your average home owner is comfortable doing. Because they are negotiating with someone who is supposed to represent their best interests in the selling process, the home owner does not want to push too much for fear that they may not get the representation they require throughout the rest of the selling process. And so, the negotiations are often not very satisfactory for the home owner.
An increasingly popular alternative are innovative real estate brokerages that have eliminated the sometimes dreaded commission rate negotiations. These low commission brokerages offer and advertise their low commission rates and therefore the home seller does not have to browbeat a REALTOR to lower the total commission. The strategy of these brokerages is to attract those home sellers that want MLS and REALTOR service, but don’t really see the benefit of overpaying for these same services.
But there's a limit to how low a REALTOR will go. The total commission that a home owner pays to sell the property is usually split between the Listing REALTOR, his brokerage, the buyer’s REALTOR and the brokerage of the buyer’s REALTOR. This means that the buyer's REALTOR must give a cut to their own employer (their brokerage). If the commission rate is set too low, your REALTOR might have a tough time finding a buyer's REALTOR willing to share such a small pot.
When you find a REALTOR that will provide a commission rate that seems reasonable to you, make sure that the share of the commission that will be offered to the buyer’s REALTOR/ agent for bringing the offer is fair and comparable to other listings in the area. You want to be on an even playing field with the other listings in the area to make sure your home is exposed to as many potential buyers as possible. Some low commission REALTORS may only offer a very small commission to the buyer’s agent keeping the majority of the total commission for themselves. Even though the Total Commission may seem very low, if you are not offering a fair and comparable amount or rate to a buyer’s agent, then you may be limiting and restricting your exposure to potential home purchasers.
You should find a REALTOR who gives the majority of the commission to the buyer’s agent (the selling brokerage). Since the vast majority of MLS listings are sold by another REALTOR other than the one that listed the property on MLS, it’s just common sense that you would want to provide as much incentive as possible for the buyer’s agent (the selling brokerage) to show your home and bring an offer. Your Listing REALTOR already has this incentive to sell your home because he will be receiving the listing commission portion of the total commission regardless who brings the offer.
In the past, the Total Commission was evenly split between the Listing REALTOR/Brokerage and the Selling REALTOR/Brokerage (the buyer’s agent). Some traditional Commission brokerages still use this commission sharing structure for the buyer’s agent commission amount. But increasingly, low commission brokerages will provide the vast majority of the Total Commission to the buyer’s agent (the Selling Brokerage). Doing so gives them a greatly superior competitive advantage compared to the traditional commission brokerage. They can provide the exact same incentive to all the other MLS REALTORS from other brokerages in the area to help sell the property and, at the same time, provide an overall lower commission to the home seller compared to a traditional commission approach . It is a very simple yet very effective strategy for both the home seller and the brokerage. The brokerage acquires a great deal more clients than if it employed a high commission rate strategy and the home seller pays less money for the same MLS & REALTOR Service.
Therefore, find a REALTOR who will list for a low commission rate based on your area’s market rates. Then make sure that the amount or rate that will be offered to the buyer’s agent (the selling brokerage) is fair and comparable to other listings currently on the market in your neighbourhood. If the amount left over, from the Total Commission, is enough for your listing brokerage/REALTOR then you’ve negotiated a very good commission rate for yourself. If the amount left over for your listing brokerage/REALTOR is not acceptable to him/her, then you may have a little more negotiating to do. However, you should always maintain the fair and comparable amount or rate that will be offered to the buyer’s agent. Note that the amount you pay to the buyer’s agent (the selling brokerage) shows up on the MLS listing data sheet of all REALTORS. The Total Commission that you will pay and the amount or share of the Total Commission that is kept by the Listing Brokerage/REALTOR does not show up on the listing data sheet. No one other than your Listing Brokerage/REALTOR and yourself will know what the Total Commission is that you will be paying to sell your home.
Before making a final decision, speak to at least three agents to gauge their flexibility, as well as their knowledge of your community. Speak to REALTORS from the largest franchise brokerages in the area and from your area’s low commission brokerage. Ask them about their services, experience, qualifications and whether they are Part-Time REALTORS or Full-Time REALTORS. Then ask them very detailed questions about the Total Commission rates for selling your home on MLS.
Don’t forget to make sure you find out exactly how the Total Commission you pay will be divided between the Listing REALTOR/brokerage and the Selling REALTOR/brokerage (the buyer’s agent). Remember, the most important thing is how much of the total commission that you pay will be going to the buyer’s agent (the selling brokerage). If it is a fair and comparable amount or rate, then your home’s Listing for which you will pay a low commission rate, will have the exact same opportunity to sell as all the other Listings in your neighbourhood that are paying a much higher Total Commission. When you are listed on the MLS, the information for your home will show up on the REALTOR database in the exact same format as all the other MLS listings in your area. The commission offered to the Selling brokerage (the buyer’s agent) also shows up on the information database and if this is not similar to others in the area, this could limit or restrict the exposure that the home will have to potential buyers.
Consider also that, in most cases, your agent doesn't earn a dime until you sell your home. And therefore, this is an excellent incentive for your REALTOR to work hard to market and sell your home. If your low commission REALTOR, or any REALTOR, is asking you to pay up front, non-refundable listing fees to list your home on the MLS, then this incentive may no longer be part of the deal. Upfront fees ensure that the REALTOR has already done his/her job and has already made money listing your home whether you sell your home or not. Yes, the REALTOR may make additional fees if the house sells however, he/she has already made the sale – they’ve sold you a home selling package and the hope of selling your home without paying any additional commission fees. Often, they also advise that you should provide a “fair and comparable” commission rate to the buyer’s agent. Thereby admitting that, more often than not, you will have to enlist the help of a buyer’s REALTOR to sell your home. Even some non –licenced, for sale by owner marketers offer these kinds of packages. So, if you have to pay the buyer’s agent and an upfront non-refundable fee, are there actual commission savings with this concept? You may also have to do a lot of the work that is normally done by your listing REALTOR and pay the fees of a lawyer to review all offers. Make sure to account for these costs and inconveniences when you’re calculating any savings using this approach.
Consider all your options and pick the one that makes the most sense for you. Remember, not every approach is right for every home seller. Some home owners are more knowledgeable and don’t need the unnecessary extras that usually come with the high commission services. Some homes are not as marketable and would generally require more commission to be paid by the home sellers because they require more work to sell than your average home. These may be homes that are in need of a lot of repairs or are in undesirable locations in a town or city. They may be homes that have some unusual and undesired features. And, they may be homes that are improperly priced. The home owners of these types of homes should consider paying a higher commission so that they can get services that are above and beyond those needed to sell a more desirable home. But otherwise, for most homes the sellers should research and consider the services of both the traditional commission brokerages and the low commission brokerages in your area.
For information about our services and commission rates visit www.coronarealty.ca or call us at (905) 525-3311. Corona Realty Inc., Brokerage.
Many High End Home Sellers Using Low Commission Brokerages to Sell |Hamilton Ontario| MLS REALTOR®| Real Estate Agents|
As prices of homes have increased dramatically over the past decade, a growing number of home sellers have been slowly turning to the services of local REALTORS® who will sell their homes by providing the same services of the traditional commission brokerages but at the same time will charge commission rates that are much lower.
Gone are the days of “one commission rate fits all”. Today, home sellers have choices about the commission rates that they have to pay when selling their homes. Commission rates vary from brokerage to brokerage. And, smart home sellers are taking advantage of the offers that some brokerages are providing. It’s simple to understand why. For example, on a $500,000 home, for every 1% commission rate savings that a seller can achieve on his/her overall total commission, the home seller will save $5,000. And, that’s before an additional 13% of HST which will add another $650 to the savings.
But, why are more and more high end home sellers choosing low commission REALTORS®?
Since the industry usually charges a percentage of the sale price of the home as the commission fee for selling the property, the higher the selling price of the home the more the total commission amount charged. For example, at a 5% commission rate a home seller of a $500,000 home will pay $25,000 in commission fees plus another $3,250 in HST for a total of $28,250. By comparison, a home seller of a property that sells for $200,000 at a 5% commission rate will pay $10,000 in commission plus another $1,300 in HST for a total of $11,300. As the price of the home increases, so does the amount of the total commission paid by the seller to sell the home.
But some math savvy home sellers are starting to rebel. They do not agree with having to share in the market increase in the price of their home over the last decade with the REALTOR® that sells their home. After all, the REALTOR® is not a partner in their home. So, why would the increase in the market value of the home have to be shared with the REALTOR®? If the commission rate paid by the seller is the same as it was a decade ago, the amount of total commission will be increased in the same proportion as the increase in property value. The amount of total commission is most notable with the higher priced homes. And therefore, it is these home sellers that are starting to challenge the commission rates of the traditional commission brokerages.
Many traditional brokerages and their sales representatives like to tell their clients that paying a high commission rate is in their best interest because, “You get what you pay for”. But, if the price of your home has doubled, and you are paying the same commission rate as in the past, that means that the total commission has also doubled. Has the work the REALTOR® needs to do to sell your home actually doubled? Is it twice as hard to sell your home as it was in the past? Hasn’t the internet, smart phones and ipads actually made it easier and more efficient to sell a home with a REALTOR®? Why would the total amount of commission need to have doubled to “get what you pay for”?
So, when a REALTOR® says, “You get what you pay for”, it might be that you're going to “Pay more than you get”.
As a result, we are seeing a trend that doesn’t seem to be reversing. The commission rates that home sellers, especially higher price home sellers, are willing to pay are decreasing. And, those brokerages that are offering the total commission rates that more reasonably reflect the actual work that needs to be done to sell the property, are quickly growing in popularity.
So, shop around. Search the internet for low commission REALTORS® in your local area. Consider their qualifications, experience and whether they are Full-Time or do real estate as a hobby.
REALTORS® in Ontario are all members of the local real estate board or association as well as members of the Ontario Real Estate Association, Canadian Real Estate Association and are all licensed by the Real Estate Council of Ontario.
For information about our brokerage and our commission rates visit www.coronarealty.ca or contact us at (905) 525-3311. Corona Realty Inc., Brokerage.
How to choose a Low Commission Rate (One Percent Commission Rate) Real Estate Agent | MLS REALTOR | Hamilton Ontario|
When choosing any REALTOR to sell your home, be it a low commission rate REALTOR, a one percent commission rate REALTOR or a high commission rate REALTOR; make sure he/she is an experienced, qualified, Full-Time REALTOR who will place your home on the local MLS and on Realtor.ca. The MLS exposure is one of the most important tools that REALTORs have to sell your home.
FACT: the vast majority of homes are sold, not by the same REALTOR that lists your home and places it on the MLS but, by another REALTOR who is working to find a home for a buyer.
When choosing a REALTOR to list your home, keep in mind that the MOST IMPORTANT item on the MLS listing data sheet that will be seen by all the Buyer REALTORs is the commission that they receive for selling your home. If this commission amount or rate is not comparable to other similar homes in your neighbourhood, the result may be that your home receives less exposure to potential buyers.
Why might this be the case?
The reason is that each MLS Listing contains a data field that shows the commission that will be paid to another REALTOR that brings an accepted offer. This is the essence of an MLS listing. The listing contains the relevant information about the home AND the amount of commission that will be paid to another REALTOR who participates in selling the home by bringing the buyers and the offer. If this “selling commission” is not comparable to other homes in the area, there may not be enough incentive for the buyer’s REALTOR to work to sell your home. As with all commission based professions, money is a very important motivator. Almost all REALTORs work exclusively on a commission basis and therefore the amount of commission that they can earn is a very important motivator.
Commission rates may vary from brokerage to brokerage. Therefore, in order to find a REALTOR that will provide the MLS Listing exposure that you want AND a low commission rate, you’ll need to find a REALTOR who is prepared to take a very small commission amount for himself/herself as a Listing Commission AND provide a comparable Selling Brokerage Commission to the Buyer’s REALTOR. Although the total commission rates are always negotiable by law, a fair and reasonable total commission is 3.5% total commission. It is very important that the vast majority of the total commission is offered to the Selling Brokerage (the buyer’s REALTOR: the REALTOR that brings the offer). Therefore, the Selling Brokerage commission should be in the 2.5% range. This leaves 1% for the Listing Commission: the commission for the REALTOR that Lists the property on MLS.
If the home is exceptional and will require very little effort to sell because it is priced very competitively or there are very few homes available in the area and there is a high demand for your type of home, then maybe you can get away with a 3% total commission. 1% for the Listing Commission and 2% for the Selling Brokerage Commission. Because you can negotiate these commission rates, you’ll need to discuss them with your REALTOR and see what option works best for both of you.
Some low commission REALTORs may want to take the total commission paid by the home seller and divide it equally between the Listing Commission and the Selling Brokerage Commission. Remember that if the Selling Brokerage Commission is too low, it may not be enough incentive for the buyer’s REALTOR to work to sell the home. So, for example, if similar homes listed on the MLS in your area are offering Selling Brokerage commissions of 2%, 2.25% or 2.5% AND your listing will be offering 1% or a small amount of $1,000, $2,000 or some other amount that is not comparable to other MLS Listed properties in your area, then why would a REALTOR whose income is based on the commission earned have the same incentive to sell your home instead of the other MLS properties?
You’ll also note that since another REALTOR other than the Listing REALTOR will likely be the Selling REALTOR (the one that brings the offer), it is less important which brokerage or REALTOR you choose to List with as long as you get a low commission rate as described above. Once your home is placed on the local MLS and it goes on the Realtor.ca website, as long as your home is offering a comparable Selling Brokerage Commission, your home will have the same exposure and the same opportunity to sell as all the other homes that have paid a much higher Total Commission.
You don’t need to get caught up with the colour of the sign on your lawn or with which REALTOR sends you magnets for your fridge every month. Your search for a good REALTOR just needs to consider what experience the REALTOR has to offer, his/her qualifications , whether the REALTOR is a Full-Time real estate professional and will be committed to working on selling your property Full-time and not as a hobby AND the TOTAL COMMISSION that you’ll have to pay for his/her REALTOR Services. Remember also that it is important to use a low commission REALTOR that has experience at selling homes using a low commission approach.
A traditional commission REALTOR may sometimes give a low commission on a one-off basis to simply compete with a low commission brokerage. But, you must consider if the traditional brokerage will have the experience to know how to sell homes using the low commission approach. The low commission REALTOR must be willing and able to take a much lower Listing Commission and must know how to divide the Listing and Selling Commission properly so that the low commission MLS property will offer the same incentive for the buyer’s REALTOR to sell the property. The REALTOR that uses a low commission strategy with all Listings and has the proven results and experience with the low commission approach will best be able to employ this type of strategy. _____________________________
Below are some additional tips about choosing a REALTOR as described by Fabrice Taylor and Published in The Globe and Mail as a Special Report (Published Tuesday, Mar. 13 2012).
Fabrice Taylor writes about investing in Report on Business.
People spend more time shopping for a TV than for a real estate agent. This, sadly, can cost them thousands of dollars, and often does.
When house prices are surging and a modest home can cost $600,000, excitement can lead to indifference about what agents charge. But that’s a mistake under any circumstance. Homeowners who understand how the realty business works, which this little primer will attempt to explain, will be far better off.
Don’t hire a friend
The easiest mistake is hiring an agent simply because you know him or her – it’s a friend, a second cousin or just an acquaintance. You might not even want to hire that person, but it’s awkward to say no, or to haggle.
A friend of mine who wanted to sell his house hired his childhood pal because he pressed him for the listing. The agent sold the house in two days, which my friend at first thought was great work. When he discovered it sold fast because it was very underpriced, he had second thoughts. He paid $22,000 for this “service.”
Takeaway tip: Make your agent earn your business whether you know him or not.
Myth: You get what you pay for
Most people think commission rates are high but accept them anyway. There are full-service discount realtors who charge less and offer the same service. Why hasn’t this caught on faster?
Some homeowners are convinced by the industry that “you get what you pay for.” That’s what traditional agents always say. But it’s clearly not true. Are agents working twice as hard today as they were 10 or 15 years ago? Obviously not, yet commissions have doubled in that time along with home prices. Rates vary by province but assuming a 5-per-cent commission, the cost of selling an average-priced house in Toronto is $25,000 today compared with half that a decade or so ago.
If you got what you paid for, they’d be working two times harder right? In fact, technology – Internet, smartphones, iPads – has made their jobs a lot easier. Commissions are too high in many cases. But what’s the right number? Is it 1 per cent? Or 3 per cent?
Takeaway tip: You should always negotiate the commission. Before you even let an agent in your door, ask them what they charge
How the realty industry operates
Before answering the 1 per cent or 3 per cent question above, you have to understand how the industry works. Agents who work for big-name firms have to charge a lot because they’re charged big fees, as much as $2,000 a month. It’s not that agents are greedy; it’s that big firms are charging them through the nose.
Takeaway tip: Avoid agents with big overheads; they’re more likely to be desperate to generate a quick commission to pay their bills, even if it’s at your expense.
Final takeaway tip: Do your homework and shop around. It may be old-school advice, but it’s so worth it. _______________________________
For more information or details about our commission rates and real estate services visit www.coronarealty.ca or contact Corona Realty Inc., Brokerage at (905) 525-3311
Why some Real Estate Agents need to charge High Commission Rates instead of Low Commission Rates| Hamilton Ontario| REALTOR MLS|
If you spent your working day performing tasks that did not make money for yourself or your employer, you would also have to charge a lot of money when you did FINALLY make some money.
This is the reason that many REALTORS® need to charge high commission rates. The truth is that many REALTORS® spend most of their working day searching for work, not doing work. They spend time knocking on doors or cold calling prospective buyers or sellers. They spend huge amounts of money marketing their services and promoting themselves and their Brands. Very expensive sources such as radio spots, billboards, newspaper ads, magazines ads, on-line marketing and other sources are used to try to obtain new customers for their services. Their brokerages do not provide them with clients. The individual REALTORS® need to go out and find their own clients. This means that these costs will have to be recouped through the commission fees they charge when they finally do get a client. These costs are largely unrelated to the actual services that the client will receive from the REALTOR®.
Further, these REALTORS® spend countless hours providing Free Evaluations of homes to people that may not even be selling their homes now just so that they can meet home sellers and possibly make them their clients in the future. And, even if they are selling now, the home owners may be obtaining 4, 5 or even more Free Home Evaluations from various REALTORS®. This means that all but one of the evaluations will have been a waste of work, time and resources for all the other REALTORS® that do not get that listing. This waste of time for the REALTOR® will have to be made up in the Commission Rate charged to their client when he/she does in fact get a client.
Of course a REALTOR® will need to charge a high commission when he/she finally does get a client using this antiquated and inefficient approach.
Rather than performing the job of selling homes, they are wasting their time and money trying to find clients to work for. As the authors of Freakonomics (economists Dubner and Levitt) write, "Most real-estate agents seem to spend 95 percent of their energy chasing clients (for which they are paid nothing) and 5 percent actually serving them (for which they are paid way too much)." This suggests that 95% of an agent’s time is wasted on tasks that do not provide any results for the client. This inefficiency is what causes high commission rates to have to be charged to the home sellers.
Our approach is totally different. Because we offer low commission rates, clients find us directly through the internet, our website and through word of mouth referrals. We get many more clients than if we were charging higher commission rates. This frees up our time and resources so that we can provide our clients the REALTOR® services that they have actually hired us to perform: listing their homes on the MLS®, marketing the property, securing an offer and negotiating the sale of the home. Additionally, many of our clients that have received a low commission rate when selling their homes will also need to buy another home. Therefore, we again do not need to waste our time and resources searching for buyers. Since we don’t need to waste time searching for clients to work with, we can focus on providing our buyer clients with the REALTOR® services they need to find the home they really want.
This system makes much more sense than the traditional high commission rate approach to real estate sales. It’s a win-win for both the home owner and our REALTORS®. The inefficiencies of the traditional approach have been largely eliminated. Therefore, the client can get all of the benefits of MLS® and REALTOR® service without the inefficiencies and costs associated with these inefficiencies.
It’s that simple. That’s why, since 1995, our low commission rate approach has been working so well for our brokerage. And, why it’s been so appealing for our clients.The proof that this low commission approach is so powerful is in the fact that more and more home sellers are choosing to pay low commission rates for great MLS® and REALTOR® service. Why would YOU want to pay MORE?
See the video below for details. Or, visit our website at www.coronarealty.ca .
www.coronarealty.ca Looking for a Low Commission when Selling Your Home on MLS with
a REALTOR in Hamilton Ontario / Ancaster Ontario?? We'll Sell Your Home for a Great Commission Rate on MLS. Our brokerage has been providing our clients alternative commission rates and outstanding REALTOR service since 1995.
Anyone can SAY they'll sell your home for a good commission rate. Andrew Ielasi, Broker of Record of Corona Realty Inc., Brokerage has been providing his clients with great commission rates, outstanding REALTOR service and proven Results since 1995. If you're thinking of selling you'll need a REALTOR who'll provide FULL Service and MLS exposure at a reasonable commission rate.
Smart Consumers know that it's not what you PAY, it's what you GET! And with Andrew, you GET Proven Results.
So, make the SMART Choice!
Buying or Selling Call Andrew Ielasi, Broker of Record, Corona Realty Inc., Brokerage, today at (905) 525-3311 or visit www.coronarealty.ca for details.
