Listing with The Burkhardt Group and ramifications of the commission lawsuit
March 2024
Understanding the process of listing your home in New York City. And what's coming after the recent commission lawsuits?
Good afternoon everyone! Just thought I'd write a little note reiterating some of the implications of the recent commission lawsuits, how that will affect us as brokers and how that affects you as buyers and sellers. Even though in New York City for the most part, we're not members of an MLS, our trade organization, THE REAL ESTATE BOARD OF NEW YORK (REBNY) has a portal called the RLS (REBNY listing service) which handles all member listings. This is where all member New York City buy-side agents go to find listings for their buyer clients. On the civilian side, I would guess roughly 99.9% of all buyers are doing their own research on Streeteasy.com, just as many of you did.
I'm going to do my best to keep this short and simple. Here is one big change to the language of the universal co-brokerage agreement (UNCBA) that all REBNY members sign: it now stipulates that the seller is paying the commissions to the buy-side agent as well as the listing agent. How does this differ from before? Well, previously, the seller was paying the entire commission to the listing agent, who was then compelled by the UNCBA to equally share the commission with the buy-side agent. This also now makes it very clear to the seller that they can decide whether or not they want to compensate a buy-side agent. Of course they've always had that option, however, there would have been incredible pushback from the listing agent. It will probably take some time for this to settle in but I do believe things are going to evolve regarding the way brokers are being paid. Also, in the past, if you were not a member of REBNY, listing agents might agree to show you and your client the property, but they were not compelled to share their commission with you. That changes now, since it's the seller, according to our new agreement, that is paying each commission to each agent.
So I think you can see some of the implications here. Basically, depending on what type of market cycle we're in or what type of property you have, it's now on the table for everyone to see their options. Commissions aren't negotiable just in theory, but in practice. Remember the not-too-distant past when a property would be listed and within days there would be multiple offers coming in? As a seller, will you now feel absolutely certain that it's important to pay 3% to the agent bringing the buyer to your property? To date, we've addressed some of these issues by offering commission rebates. With our model, we have the ability to be flexible in our pricing structure under many different scenarios.
One thing that I've stressed over the years, is the fact that basically everybody is offering you the same services. Every buyer, and every buy-side agent is finding properties the same way, The RLS or StreetEasy. So why wouldn't you seriously consider shopping around for a competent agent that's also willing to compete on price? Our listing model has been as successful if not more successful than all of our competition. And our seller clients have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions using our service. Even in this very difficult market, we've gotten some difficult sales done representing the seller. For lack of a better word, I think the traditional brokerages have brainwashed sellers into thinking they need to use their services and pay 6% on fear that their listing won't sell, or other agents won't show it, etc., this is 100% false! Even more so now. Remember, everyone is finding the listing in the same place regardless of what firm they're working at. And a buyer is going to want to see any and all listings that they find online... regardless.
So please feel free to schedule a call with me, there's a lot more to talk about when it comes to the important task of listing your home. I would at least like to be part of that conversation and let you know what we can offer along with some of our other proprietary systems that actually give you an advantage over most of the competition. We disrupted the New York City brokerage business with our buy-side model and we're now doing the same with our listing model.
List your home with us: 3.75% w/ 2.5% paid to cooperating brokerage. No cooperating brokerage: 2.5%. This can also be tailored to your specific needs and requirements. We can discuss an appropriate strategy based on your property along with current market conditions.
Buyer service: Up to $999k purchase price, we rebate you 50% of the commission we receive.
$1mm-$1,999mm, we rebate you 60% of the commission we receive. $2mm+ We rebate 67% of the commission we receive.
You can then take the money that you saved using the Burkhardt groups service model, and perhaps invest it in an index fund and watch it grow for the next 10+ years! Now that's a closing gift that keeps on giving.
$78,261.36 was just rebated to a lovely couple that purchased at 210 Warren Street.
And Lastly, I want to thank everyone for their continued support! We so greatly appreciate your referrals and postings on work web resource forums and boards.
Best,
Keith
The Burkhardt Group