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     First, let me say thank you for allowing me to be of service to you. I have a new program that is exclusively offered by myself. It is a program that I developed to help those who have served or are serving our country. You have not served but want to participate – no problem -I also have a different program for you! It is different but also saves you $ just ask me. If you have any others who you know that might benefit from my services please refer them to my website www.RealEstate4Veterans.com as I also try to list other helpful ways to save the more money$ and other informative items or information that being a veteran myself; I have come across.

Types of fees and commissions:

Those that charge a percentage are free to negotiate that percentage. Some have come along and work with a flat fee or sliding fee scale. They may also offer limited services up to full service. They negotiate it upfront regardless of the sale price. In most transactions that you see the seller pays and is responsible for the commission paid & it will show on their side of a settlement statement.

All Things are Negotiable

But in my profession with fees and commissions being negotiable, sometimes we represent the buyer; sometimes we represent the seller, and sometimes we act as a facilitator working equally for both parties. We must state who and how we represent any party in a transaction in writing to all parties involved at the beginning of the process or close to the beginning.

Sometimes when working with a buyer we may represent them and locate them a desired property but the property may or may not be listed. An example would be a for sale by owner. We would negotiate with our client to ensure we are paid or sometimes we would negotiate with the unlisted seller to pay us for bringing our client to them.

Representation and Duties

So as you may see the amount is always negotiable and even who pays the amount is negotiable. We have certain duties that we owe just our client but we also have duties that we owe all parties in the transaction. I provide a sheet explaining that in each transaction I take a part in. Once a contract has been signed to represent a party in the transaction – that party becomes my client and I owe them loyalty among other things and I am required to do my best for them and place their interest above all others in the transaction as long as its legal. I am bound to carry out any instruction given to me by my client – even if it is against any advice I may have provided – their instructions rule.

How there are zero $0 charges to you!

As I said above most transactions that you may see have the seller paying the fee or commission – but I have decided to help out my clients and especially those who have served by having the other party in a transaction pay if any payment is received for my services. This results in a 0$ commission charge to you.

Rules and regulations

We have a lot of rules and regulations that we must comply with as a real estate agent but I am also a Realtor (a member of the National Association of Realtors) and held to a higher standard than that set by the law. One of the rules that I am asked to follow covers co-op compensation – that is anytime we place a listing in our MLS (Multiple Listing Service), that we offer any other real estate professional a fee or commission for selling that listing. Sometimes we list a property and also sell it ourselves and keep the full commission within our brokerage. (The Real Estate Firm that we work under) . At this time I brokerage under Athens Realty and as such any commission I negotiate is considered the property of the firm. So anything I do with that commission I must have the firm’s approval. Once the commission is earned and paid to the firm then whatever part was offered as co-op is paid to the Firm of the agent who handled the buyer’s side. If Any amount remains at all then it is split between the firm and the listing agent. The amount offered a co-op agent is also a negotiable point between the two firms but must be stated in the MLS upfront and you must offer some amount even if a different amount is negotiated after they bring a buyer.

Examples of the Savings!

I know this has been a little long but I want it to be easily understood or completely explained. That being said I will now provide examples of each method and how it would affect the seller in a transaction:
1) A flat fee firm or sometimes discount firm may charge as an example 4995.00 to list the property – sometimes this amount is paid upfront and non-refundable even if the property is not sold. If the seller sold for 100000.00 and the comm was 4995.00 then the seller would get 95005 before any other cost.
2) If a commission was worked out for 8% as a seller paid a commission that same 10000.00 would provide them 92000 before other costs. In my listing example, I am offering 4% to any co-op agent if I do not directly provide the buyer and a total commission charge of 8% – but the way I am adding more to you, my seller clients, the bottom line is I am negotiating or asking the buyer to pay the commission. So the same 10000.00 – 0.00 seller charge nets the seller 10000.00 before any other cost.
3)There is one other part to this if I represent both the buyer and the seller and both are veterans or service members then I charge 0.00 to both parties – this still nets my seller in this example 100000.00 but also gives my buyer an extra 8000.00.
This setup allows my seller client to be ahead of other homes in the market by offering there listing at a price that is lower than the other sellers of similar properties and would result possibly in a faster sale. More buyers will look at the lower price property first if all other aspects of the properties are the same.

Conclusion & more ways to save you $

I hope this explains my concept but if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me and ask. All fees and commissions are negotiable even the cost of auxiliary services like home inspections or surveys or title company charges, pest inspections or reports and more – in these and other areas I have reached out to service providers to get a special discount or rate for those who have served from them also – not all services by law are allowed to change there fee but most are and most are willing to.

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