To all the agents in the house,
Thank you very much to Donny Samson and the literally two dozen agents at Samson Properties who have reached out to me this week after I asked about Samson Properties' business model. I promise (hold me to this!) a proper news story this week about all things Samson.
Now, the original reason I asked about Samson is that their 100% commission split to agents seemed too good to be true, almost like a parody of flat fee brokerages such as United Real Estate or outfits like Compass that promised both high splits and sophisticated tech and services. And the answer I've at least heard so far – again, so far - about their business model is that agents are requested to refer clients to use Cardinal Title & Settlement, a title outfit that, like Samson, is headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia.
It's a request, of course, because a requirement would violate the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. But, agents, it raises the question of how many you receive this request from your brokerage.
Publicly traded brokerages such as Compass and eXp treat their title as "ancillary" services, a secondary part of their business model, not broken out in publicly filed financials. Realogy breaks out "Realogy Title Group" numbers, but the biggest driver of its title group revenue is a mortgage joint venture with Guaranteed Rate, not title insurance fees.
It would seem, then, that few brokerages have title insurance as such a critical component of their business that seeps into agent's work. But I'm not sure! Agents, please let me know: Does your brokerage request that you use a certain title company? And, brokers reading this, how important/not important is title to your business model?
Please send me your thoughts anonymously. My email is mblake@housingwire.com.
Sincerely,
Matthew Blake
Senior Real Estate Reporter
EmoticonEmoticon