Real Estate Commissions

There is a lot of talk about commissions out there and I am speaking about real estate commissions.

It has been in the news a lot lately - the Canadian Real Estate Association's struggle with the competition bureau. A lot of that centers around reduced commissions structures in our industry. I just thought I would weigh in on the subject a little bit, and give my two cents on commissions and how I handle them based on the fact that there's a lot of discussion out there right now amongst the general public and Realtors alike.

I saw a post yesterday on Twitter from one Realtor to another, and the Realtor was chastising another Realtor for having a reduced commission structure to help sell condos. I shook my head....I do not understand that perspective and that outlook on commissions.

For the record, my commissions are negotiable. I have no problems negotiating my commissions. A lot of the commissions that I have negotiated in the past or reduced in the past have been based on criteria such as how much business we've done together in the past, whether or not I'm helping them with their listing and their purchase....there's a great number of things that I take into consideration when negotiating my commissions. But for the record, I have no problems negotiating my commissions with somebody wanting to list their house. I am not willing to draw a line in the sand and say "This is the number, take it or leave it."

I know a lot of fantastic realtors that do that - their number is not negotiable and they have the reasons for it. I am not here to say that their doing it wrong or that I disagree with them. That's their business model and negotiating my commissions is mine.