To all the agents in the house,
I wrote a story last week on the surge in homebuilding, and how it is a weirdly incredible market for established homebuilding companies. More home construction can also help real estate agents. Or not.
Cindy Barnes, an agent at Heritage Realty in Shelbyville, Tennessee, said that she has been in touch with companies like Ryan Homes about bringing clients to newly built abodes.
Stacey Herrig, an agent at Epic Realty in Meridian, Idaho, has developed a similar rapport with Corey Barton Homes in her Boise market, which she said reliably gives buyer's agents a 3% commission.
But some builders with a national presence, Herrig said, "are not cooperating."
These builders, Herrig said, "are not even offering money anymore" to agents, confident that the market is so hot that they can bypass the median 2.5% commission to buyer's side agents.
What Herrig described is an ethical dilemma. Do you breach a fiduciary duty and not let your client know about this newly built home? Or do you let them know and risk not getting paid for your work?
Meanwhile, a Phoenix agent complained that national builders shut agents out of the entire house-buying process.
One of the country's biggest builders, "Keeps coming out with new lists each week of communities that are no longer accepting buyer representation by real estate agents," the agent alleged.
What is happening in your market? What home builders work with you? Which ones are working around you?
And what can you do to both ensure your client sees everything on-market, while also making sure you get a commission?
Please email me anonymously at mblake@housingwire.com.
Sincerely,
Matthew Blake
Senior Real Estate Reporter
EmoticonEmoticon