All Forum Posts by: Michael Brattelli

@Esteban Rodriguez Interview with a bunch of local brokerages and see who offers the best training. This is the most important thing when you’re new to Real Estate. Best of luck!

@Cliff H. I stand corrected, I read another article and that is one of the other complaints

@Cliff H. No, it’s a suit about sellers being forced to pay buyers agent commissions, not about percentages or anything like that. You can search the web for Sitzer Burnett case and read about it.

@Carlos Ptriawan every area is different, my market does not have flat fees and that’s not how we operate. All brokerages have varying rates so it’s much different where I am so we may not have the same issues there.

As far as the lockbox thing, do you know how easy it is for a bad actor to forge a preapproval or bank statement? Who’s liable then when a seller comes home with their 2 daughters and a criminal is hiding in their house at night, or they come home and all their valuables are gone? It comes down to liability, in the world we live in you can’t just give out access to peoples homes in the public however in an ideal world I do agree with you that would be great but it’s not the world we’re living in. Also what would stop a random buyer from giving the code out to friends/criminal acquaintances? You have to see where this can go bad and if you don’t then we can just agree to disagree.

@Conrad Cortes You’re welcome. We need more open debates to actually hear what the other side is saying and see if we can relate, agree, or disagree. When I do real estate I remove all emotion and just deal with the problem/solution at hand. When agents or clients get emotional is when deals turn sideways. It’s a business transaction not dating lol.

Reply to your 1) I agree, agents should never be saying their services are Free because they’re not. Everyone should be doing buyer consultations and explaining the agency agreement and all the ins and outs of a transaction prior to starting anything.

The part about lower price range buyers is the biggest issue I see with the whole lawsuit. Who will represent them if buyers agents aren’t getting paid? Everyday people are already struggling to get by and afford homes and this dosn’t help them at all. It will impact them the most and I think that’s what’s being missed in all of this.

Reply to your 2) I don’t want to comment on this too much as I’m not a fan of disclosing how I do my business but I think it’s extremely important for buyers agents to view homes with their buyers. Only a seasoned and experienced real estate professional knows what to look for and what to point out in a house and having an unrepresented buyer at a home could be disastrous in many ways: revealing too much personal info, missing major issues with the home, trying to negotiate for themselves etc. I don’t have the solution to all of this but us as agents need to show value and educate buyers and sellers more on what we actually do and have to offer. Otherwise everyone has the assumption that we open doors and send docusigns.

@James Hamling Couldn’t agree more with your comments. I said that earlier in one of my replies, it’s up to consumers to vet and research the agent they choose. Id make a solid bet that many people complaining of bad agents they’ve dealt with didn’t vet them, check credentials, interview multiple agents, and do their due diligence in choosing who to work with.

I did over 50 deals before I got my brokers license and thought I had a really good understanding of everything and had seen a ton of different deals and issues. After I got my brokers license I realized how much more there was to learn. I think the barrier of entry should be more along the lines of the brokers license. That would weed out so many people and the ones left would improve the business for agents and consumers alike.

@Carlos Ptriawan all commissions are negotiable already so who is determining the flat fee? And who is going to outline what that flat fee entails? What I do for clients is far more than the average agent so I don’t think we should all get paid for doing different amounts of work. There would be no incentive to do any more than the absolute bare minimum.

To your point about “just give the lockbox codes out to buyers”, do you want random people going through your home as a seller? That’s insane. Nobody to supervise? If that happened, do you know how many homes would be robbed or even worse? Giving out lockbox codes to the public would probably be the most dangerous scenario imaginable.

@Bradley Buxton I totally agree with everything you said. If you scroll up, I had a reply about the barrier of entry as well. Also yes I think a lot of us are disappointed about how the case was handled. Why didn’t they have agents go up and present their side as well to give another point of view? Either way this whole case should be a learning lesson for agents on how to conduct their business better and establish a baseline on how they will get paid more efficiently so I don’t think it’s all bad. Also I don’t think a lot of people in this thread (non agents) understand what this case was really all about. If you scroll up @James Hamling had some really good points about it.

@Conrad Cortes I may have read your one point incorrectly in my first reply. If you meant that the Buyers would then pay a flat fee to a buyers agent to review contracts and represent them after they find a house that would cut out a buyers agent totally, why wouldn’t buyers just use attorneys for reviewing contracts and negotiating at that point? And I’m either scenario there would never be a buyers agent or attorney getting eyes on the house with the buyer to point out potential issues or concerns. You think a listing agent is going to be pointing to the structural cracks in the basement or improperly sistered joists while they’re showing the property?

@James Hamling great points as always