Step Out Of The Box: Fee-For-Service
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By: Pat Rioux - Staff Writer, International Real Estate Digest
Internet Realtor Mollie Wasserman of Keller Williams, challenges real estate practitioners to "step out of the box" and look at fee alternatives for home buyers and sellers in need of the professional services of real estate agents and brokers.
Mollie, a self-avowed early adapter and adopter, feels that by working as a fiduciary, she should be paid as a fiduciary. "A good fiduciary should not be a salesperson," she states and she feels that when it comes to personal counseling, people are very willing to pay good money for professional service.
She holds that opinion, as well as the belief that consumers also expect to get "everything for nothing" on the web. Her web site offers the freebies they expect as well as fee-based services that satisfy her need to be paid for the work.
Mollie feels the downward trend in commission fees that have been falling from the 6% to 5% to 4% in her area west of Boston, known as 'Metrowest', will continue. Her take on the current model is that it is inherently unfair and that the successful home sellers and buyers end up paying for the transactions that don't close. New business models of the future will break out the tasks and price for time and materials, she states.
Mollie's clients are comprised of 75% buyers and 25% sellers and she offers a "Not-Ready- For-Prime-Time Buyers Club" for home seekers who want to start doing their research but won't be buying immediately. And a "No Sales Call" promise to people who visit her site - an unusual promise for a real estate agent, indeed!
On the buying side, Mollie says that the value of her services is not in finding the home but in the counseling that comes after finding the house. In light of how much information is available on the Internet for home buyers, it is becoming increasingly common for buyers to find a house on their own before they ask for assistance from a real estate for showings and negotiating price.
Mollie's first test case of her new strategy for listing properties was for a multi-family property that turned out to be a 'win-win' for her and the seller. Next came a seller family being transferred to Chicago, and, after building a rapport during the consultation process, Mollie helped them market a single-family split-level home. A 'very typical transaction,' she says, except that she got paid a flat fee of $3,500.00 for her work, and the seller offered a separate co-fee to the selling agent.
Her non-refundable retainer of $1,500.00 is paid upfront, with the balance payable at the rate of $500 a month until the sale closes (and any remainder paid then). Her fee is not contingent upon the sale of the home so she gets paid for her work instead of only being paid if the deal closes. She warns sellers that if their home will likely sell under $200,000.00, the traditional commission may be a better deal for them. And she offers a true menu-of-services under the "A La Carte" Fee Schedule.
Mollie Wasserman uses VisualTour for her virtual tours and has been an outspoken critic of the Homestore decision to favor IPIX over VisualTour for posted virtual tours by Realtors. She has gone on record questioning a possible linking fee for her preferred vendor and criticizes what she calls a "kickback" payment from IPIX to Homestore.
One of her favorite virtual tours was one she did for a new construction client moving 3,000 miles across country from California to a brand new home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. For the Halloween update in the series of progress reports, she added scary music and asked if it would be "trick or treat?" The trick? - no work done on their new home or treat? - good progress toward completion!
Mollie, who was referred to as a "techie queen" in the early days and an IRED Top 10 Hot Pick (in 1996, before the Top Ten ratings were discontinued), will continue to grow and push the envelope for the benefit of home buying and selling consumers. And she has recently taken on the challenge of training others so that they, too, can be a part of the revolution.
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