Sweetened or not?

The photo is of a mark left on a green a couple of weeks ago at the Cocoa Beach Country Club when lightning struck the flag stick. Please take lightning seriously, folks. Our afternoon thunderstorms can move in quickly and the lightning strikes often occur far away from the clouds. Don't take chances.

One of my relatives asked for a contract review on the sale of their home in another city. Imagine my surprise at seeing "$395 transaction fee to be paid by the seller" written into the contract by the buyer's agent. Aren't they being paid commission already? Yes, in this case the buyer's broker was being paid $14,000, but the agent felt compelled to try and squeeze an extra $395 on top of that. She should be ashamed. "But, wait" I can hear her saying. "We have to pay our transaction coordinator and provide her office space." I get it. However, $14,000 will easily pay expenses and leave a healthy chunk to be split between the broker and the agent. "But", she says, "my broker charges me a transaction fee of $395." OK. Maybe that's why they offered you a more attractive commission split when you joined their office. Do the right thing, pay the $395 out of the commission and stop trying to rob people. I was faced with this exact scenario when my previous brokerage was bought and the new brokers mandated a transaction fee. Many agents, myself included, refused to pass that fee on to our clients but, disturbingly, many others thought it perfectly acceptable to have their clients pay it. That particular broker cleverly called the junk fee a "Regulatory Compliance Fee" which they hoped would eliminate client protests. A transaction fee charged by the broker to the agent can be an entirely legitimate fee TO. THE. AGENT. There are very few circumstances that would justify passing that fee along to a client. Unless there are unusual circumstances justifying the fee, I would encourage anyone whose agent has tried to charge them a transaction fee to immediately find a new agent. Asking for a transaction fee is all the evidence necessary (in most transactions) to demonstrate that the agent is not working in their client's best interest. This stuff really bothers me.

For those that haven't read any of my blathering about brokers stealing from their clients, here's a good one from five years ago, Robberies Update

"Profit is sweet even if it comes from deception."  __Sophocles