Don’t Let Yourself Be Overcharged For Services

There are many real estate companies out there that charge what they call a Transaction Fee. In most cases this fee will be hundreds of dollars charged directly to you. You want to ask very early in your conversation with your Realtor if they charge such a fee. If they say yes and you like them I would give them the option for them to pay that fee for you. If they tell you they can’t or won’t I would find another Realtor that will or better yet doesn’t charge the fee in the first place.

A Transaction Fee goes to one of two people and it’s not you. This fee is sometimes used by the Broker as his or her only compensation on the transaction and they then pay their Realtors 100% of the commission. In other cases they may tell you it is a administrative fee for the paper work and storage of the transaction documents as required by law. Some companies will charge a lessor rate of commission on the transaction to get the deal and then sneak in this fee to make up the money they gave away in the commission. There are even Brokers that share this fee with their agents. No matter how you look at it, it is simply additional profit for your agent and the Broker.

I am personally strongly against the usage of these fees .I feel that Realtors are paid for their services through the commission on the deal. When I am consulting I always tell my people to watch for this fee and it is right in my contract that Realtors on my team are not allowed to charge these fees. If your Realtors company charges this fee, get it in writing that the fee will be waved or paid by others. Others could be your agent, the Broker or the people on the other side of the transaction.