The trouble is no commission system really makes sense, and I’m saying this as a former car salesperson. No matter what system is used, realtors/salespeople are going to try to exploit it to their own benefit. There absolutely are people that refuse to go to commission based dealerships to avoid ‘pushy’ salespeople and scummy tactics, and that’s how CarMax makes so much money per vehicle.
When I was selling, I had a friend that was a realtor, and we used to complain to each other about basically the same thing: some one came in, wasted our time, and we got paid $0 for it. Granted, he was usually working a lot more per customer than me, but he was also making a lot more per sale than me. I had plenty of sales, most of them, where the people buying the cars had no business buying the cars, but I couldn’t tell them no or try to dissuade them, I’d’ve been immediately fired and they would have just gone somewhere else to buy. When I bought my first house, I had a pretty strict budget because I knew how much I could afford. My realtor and the broker she recommended both continued to try to talk me into ‘stretching the approval’ to DOUBLE what I wanted to spend. ‘It would be a lot easier to find what you want if we increased your budget, and I know Corey could get it through, he’s a pro!’
I don’t think realtors themselves are being vilified, it’s that they have to admit the system has been getting abused and too many people are getting ripped off. I’m not saying all, or even most, realtors abuse the system, but there are enough. And, really, how does it hurt? Both buyer and seller should have deals with their realtors to pay them whatever percentage or flat fee off the transaction, and neither party needs to know what the other is making. Believe it or not, the car sales industry has changed A LOT just in the last 20 years, and it’s still 40 years behind the times. Every industry should keep up with societal norms. You compare to a lot of industries, but what other industries are people signing the deal and getting paid $15-$20k a month later for 10-20 hours of work? Of course that’s not every deal, but the market has been white hot for years and these houses were selling themselves, often with bidding wars for over asking.
As with every other industry, this won’t hurt anything, it’s just a slight shift in direction to rebalance the power for customers. The same people are going to offer on the same houses. You mention ‘floors’ to rates, and it will be the same. The successful realtors that have tons of active clients are going to be telling potential new customers higher rates because they are busy. The newer or less successful ones are going to be on the lower end because they need the business.
My wife and I will likely be selling and buying within the next 6-12 months. We are absolutely going to consider rates when we pick our realtor, but of course that won’t be the only thing. We also plan to ask how much they know about our area and how they’d handle our house. Would they prefer to price high and drop, or price lower and hope for a bidding war with waived inspections? Would they want to stage, have professional pictures taken, and/or have open houses? We’ll also take every offer we get and compare them fully, basically whichever one results in us walking away with the most money. If someone wants to give us $50k more than the next closest offer, but that results in an extra $10k in costs, sure, let’s all get paid.
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